Drug Abuse Resistance Education
The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff’s Office is proud to participate in the D.A.R.E. program. D.A.R.E. is a popular drug abuse prevention education program designed to equip elementary, middle and high school children with knowledge about drug abuse, the consequences of abuse, and skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs, alcohol and tobacco. The Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff¹s Office D.A.R.E. program is based on the premise that prevention is the only long-term answer to drug abuse. The emphasis of DARE is to help students recognize and resist the many direct and subtle pressures that influence them to experiment with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, or other drugs or to engage in violence.This unique program uses a specially trained Tangipahoa Parish Sheriff¹s Deputy to teach a formal curriculum to students in a classroom setting. Prior to entering the D.A.R.E. program, Deputy’s must undergo 80 hours of special training in areas such as child development, classroom management, teaching techniques, and communication skills. 40 hours of additional training are provided to D.A.R.E. instructors to prepare them to teach the high school curriculum.
D.A.R.E. lesson plans focus on four major areas:
1. Providing accurate information about drugs, alcohol and tobacco.2. Teaching students good decision-making skills.
3. Showing students how to recognize and resist peer pressure.
4. Giving students ideas for positive alternatives to drug use.
D.A.R.E officers work with children to raise their self-esteem, teach them how to make decisions on their own, and help them identify positive alternatives to drugs. Through role-playing, the D.A.R.E., curriculum emphasizes the negative consequences of drug use, and reinforces the skills to resist peer pressure and intimidation.
