103 STAT. 146 PUBLIC LAW 101-54—JULY 7, 1989 Public Law 101-54 101st Congress Joint Resolution July 7, 1989 [H.J. Res. 276] Designating September 14, 1989, as "National D.A.R.E. Day". Whereas D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is a semester- long program that teaches fifth and sixth grade children how to resist pressure to experiment with drugs and alcohol; Whereas the D.A.R.E. program is also provided to kindergarten and junior high school students and their parents; Whereas D.A.R.E. targets children when they are most vulnerable to tremendous peer pressure to try drugs and alcohol and teaches the skills to make positive decisions and resist pressure to engage in negative behaviors; Whereas more than 1,200 communities in 48 States now conduct the D.A.R.E. program in their local schools, and a pilot program has been implemented for use internationaly in the Department of Defense Dependent Schools; Whereas almost 3 million students have been reached through D.A.R.E.; Whereas because school children are frequently much more sophisti- cated about substance abuse than are classroom teachers, the D.A.R.E. program is taught by veteran police officers with direct experience in cases involving criminal activity and ruined lives caused by substance abuse; Whereas each police officer who teaches the D.A.R.E. program completes an 80-hour training course that includes instruction in teaching techniques, officer-school relationship, development of self-esteem, child development, and communication skills; Whereas the D.A.R.E. curriculum, developed by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District, helps students understand self-image, recognize stress and manage it without taking drugs, analyze and resist media presen- tations about alcohol and drugs, evaluate risk-taking behavior, resist gang pressure, apply decision making skills, and evaluate the consequences of the choices available to them; Whereas independent research shows that the D.A.R.E. program has exceeded its goal of helping students combat peer pressure to use drugs and alcohol, by contributing to improved study habits and grades and decreased vandalism and gang activity and by generating greater respect for police officers; and Whereas the D.A.R.E. program has achieved outstanding success teaching positive and effective approaches to what is one of the most difficult problems facing our young people today, namely drug abuse: Now, therefore, be it
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