I remember starting D.A.R.E about midway this school year. My initial thought was, “This program is going to be quite lame and for little kids.” Boy, have I been proved wrong! Every Friday of these past nine weeks, I remember waiting until last period for officer Metzger, my D.A.R.E. officer, to teach D.A.R.E. This program taught me things like different types of peer pressure, illegal drugs, and the effects of legal drugs like tobacco.
For example, I knew alcohol destroyed the body, but it can also destroy your brain and cause you to be “moody”. From our “D.A.R.E. Box Time!” to our various lessons, D.A.R.E. has been one of the most educational, informative, and enjoyable 9 weeks of my life!
One of the first lessons we had in D.A.R.E was about tobacco. Most people know how bad cigarettes are for your body, but chewing tobacco also has its effects. Chewing tobacco can cause mouth cancer. And trust me, I’ve seen some ugly pictures of mouth cancer, and it ain’t pretty.
Tobacco companies hide all these things by advertising their products to be “cool”. In cigarette advertisements, they use tactics like bright colors and attention-getting words to appeal to the eyes of young people. The reason they do this is because 400,000 smokers die each year. So these cigarette companies have to replace 400,000 of their customers. This is good to know because I definitely don’t want to use these products just because I think they are “cool”. I know that if I was old enough to use chew or cigarettes, I wouldn’t even let my lips touch those nasty things. Tobacco is deadly.
This is just one of the great things D.A.R.E. has to teach. I think the person who invented D.A.R.E. did it just in time. D.A.R.E taught me this: If you’re asked something, think about the effects.
Remember to do that.
Let me know what you think about this issue at BoulderCityMagazine@gmail.com.
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