The True Story Of The Day The D.A.R.E. Officer Came To School

As you know, Real Heavy Politics also serves as a resource for `Rants' - such as this one found recently on the internet at Reddit.com:

It must have been in 1987 or so. I was in 2nd grade. the D.A.R.E. officer was paying our class an educational visit. The officer told us of all the evils of drugs, especially marijuana. Weed seemed to be the main focus of the the officer's attention. He was using an overhead projector when he showed us various types of paraphernalia. "If you see a pipe like this, or a clear baggy with this green plant in it, it's marijuana," the officer told us. "If you've seen this before, you should let me know right away so I can make sure no one gets in any trouble," we were told.

Then came the next slide, a photo of a marijuana plant. The officer explained to the classroom full of seven year olds, that this was a pesky weed. In fact, usually it just grows wild, with most people never realizing that this highly illegal plant is growing on their property. He asked us if any of us recognized the plant. One boy did, Daniel. When pressed, though, Danny seemed to regret piping up. The cop told him "If you have one of these plants, I need to know so that we can get it out of there before anyone gets in trouble. If there's one in your yard, and you tell us, we'll just remove it and no one will be in any trouble, but if we find it on our own, everyone goes to jail."

That's when Danny told the officer about the plants like that in his back yard.

That was the last time I ever saw Daniel. A few days later I overheard my parents discussing how his parents had been arrested for growing pot.

Now I am 30. I have a son about to turn 10. We have had the "D.A.R.E. talk." Basically, this is the talk explaining to him that what Daddy does at home is Daddy's business, never tell anyone. Now, usually the cops shoot for the 7-8 year old kids so they can get the info before the parents have had time to properly educate their kids about police deception.

Teach your kids that the D.A.R.E. officer is not their friend, and that he will lie to you. Tell them this story, like I did. "Don't be a Daniel," I told my son.

Only wimps don't tell their kids the truth about pot and the real purpose of the D.A.R.E. program. http://www.reddit.com/r/trees/comments/c9nfr/the_trues_story_of_the_day_the_dare_officer_came/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Abuse_Resistance_Education#The_Use_of_Children_as_Informants