http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0919noDARE19.html

No surprise.  Phoenix is much more concerned with preventing lap dances than keeping kids off drugs.  Would be funny if not so tragic.

Reason I didn't try drugs when I was a kid: I was educated HONESTLY by my parents and on my own. I hung out with the "druggies" in school and that was reason enough for me NOT to do them. Wasn't until July, 2000 that I smoked pot for the first time and that lasted three months with a 40 pound weight gain at the end. I hated it, didn't think it was fun, but I did it because of my Grave's Eye Disease with the "light" guidance of my physician who was exploring that avenue with me before the $40,000 occipital depression surgery.

Anyhow, DARE is, was and always has been a waste of money. UNTIL, and NOT UNTIL, the government starts giving ACCURATE information to our children and to adults, drugs will prevail. They tell us that drugs kill, well, I know a slew of people who've done drugs for years and ::gasp:: they're STILL ALIVE.

So, I say revamp the DARE efforts but give accurate information so that people can make informed decisions about their potential drug use. A great case in point is MDMA. Want some real information about MDMA or MDA? dancesafe.org Don't read anything the government puts out because according to the guy who wrote it, he was paid to write about Crystal Meth, not MDMA and admitted that he couldn't put out accurate information on MDMA because it's been "widely-used" for too short a time. In other words, this generation of users are the guinea pigs. I've taken it three times......I AINT DEAD.

My .02.

Megan

ReARE was useless.

Even though two of my kids did DARE (the third won't get to) I found the whole drill a bit reminiscent of mind-control...almost cult-like.  Our society need to face the hypocrisy of alcohol and tobacco being legal (and government-subsidized) while less-lethal, less-addictive drugs are illegal.  Still, I don't mind teachers telling kids about the undisputed dangers of drugs, tobacco and alcohol use by kids.

Of course, decisions about what is legal or illegal should not be made by a powerful federal government, but rather, by local communities.  That's a good conservative principle, right?  Uh, well, no...local control only counts on issues that don't matter to the far right.  Our federal government doesn't trust the citizens of our community to decide for themselves about inidividual behaviors, liberties, and victimless "crimes."  GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR BEDROOMS, BLOODSTREAMS, AND UTERUSES (UTERI?)!

Thanks for listening...I feel much better now.

ReARE was useless.

MDA? call it what it is Ecstasy or as the kids call it E. Its a nasty drug, the tabs you dropped were probably pure pharmacutical grade mda most of the crap on the street is assuredly not. In my old job i knew a gentlemen who supplemented his income by moving the drug at parties. He would tell me the stuff the drug was cut with it ran the gamut from other hard drugs like meth or heroin (used for certain kinds of "trips") to boric acid. ecstacy as sold on the street to the average child is not safe or harmless, your positive experience not with standing.

ReARE was useless.

No kidding.  Just read the fine print of the so-called "recovery package" for New Orleans if you want to see our fine government in action.  You'd think with a situation as grave as this, they could leave our all their pork barrel projects.  But Hey!  They are the experts at wasting our money.

all that money to try to stop adults from doing what they will inevitably do anyhow.  how about spending that money on rounding up deadbeat dads and updating and maintaining women's shelters!  ARRRRGH!!!  i'm getting off my soapbox before i get on a rant that would go for pages!

Don

The one time I tried Ecstasy it must have been cut with amphetamines or something else strong.

Yes, the euphoric Kumbaya buzz was nice. But after the buzz wore off, I (who am completely healthy) had chest pains, palpitations, and insomnia that lasted for several days. Never again!

And aside from the bad symptoms from the added fillers, it's well documented Ecstasy has killed off people at dance parties.

Sounds like a really safe drug to me...not.

Hard to believe anyone would mention this drug in a positive way.

Um, Megan, next are you going to say you've tried heroin three times and so far you're not addicted, so it must not be as bad as you heard?

-- Modified on 9/20/2005 12:55:30 PM

First, it is the parents responsibility to educate their children.

Second, what kid doesn't know that drugs are bad????????????????????????? It is stupid to waste tax money to tell kids what they already know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Who here ever did drugs nad did not know it was illegal and harmful???????????????????????????????