D.A.R.E celebrating 20th Anniversary

The D.A.R.E program has been going for 20 years strong.

The program is celebrating with a birthday party for its mascot Darren, at the Timmins Library, Saturday but Cont. Rick Lemieux says it’s much more than just a party. Lemieux has been teaching the program since 2003 in schools throughout Timmins, he says the best part of the program is its evolution.

“When it first started, it was 17 weeks and we talk to student about different facts and health effects about drugs.  Studies were done and it didn’t really have an impact they way we wanted.  Now the program deals more with how to deal with stress, peer pressure in safe and healthy ways.  We also give the student tools to make safe and healthy choices.”

Lemieux says he’s most proud of how the program has expanded to grade 8.

“We’re the first ones in Canada to offer this program and after studies were done on the grade 6 and 8 programs, it shows a reduction of 44% of kids staying off drugs.”

He even envisions D.A.R.E diving into dealing with mental health.

“I can see them adding more on mental health but also adding more on e-cigarettes, it’s getting more popular with kids and that’s what I love about the program – it’s always evolving.”