It is a joint project of the local school districts and the Boone County Sheriff's Department. The 17-week curriculum is aimed to equip youth with the skills to resist peer pressure to experiment with and use harmful drugs. Drugs are not confined only to the murky world of criminals.
Drug abuse is a serious problem plaguing more and more young people.
It impairs emotional growth and learning. Statistics show that 1 in 16 high school students smoke marijuana daily. Many people in their early 2O's talk about being burned out by excessive drug use in their teens. It has come to the point where pre-teens need to be inoculated, in a sense, against the lure of the drug culture. Project D.A.R.E. is the combined effort of the local schools and law enforcement agencies.