Fifth graders at Blue Springs Elementary School have completed the DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program.  School Resource Officers representing other county schools and Sheriff Tim Gobble were present to offer their congratulations to the students for this achievement. At the conclusion of the ten week program, each student completed an essay about what they had learned.  In the photograph, Blue Springs SRO Bo Collins and Sheriff Gobble pose with Courtney Sherlin ( left) and Ashlyn Lamberth who wrote the two best essays. For more photos of this event, visit our BCSO Photo Gallery .

DRUG FREE FOREVER
by Courtney Sherlin

For as long as I can remember, D.A.R.E. has been an important part of my life. You see, my brother and sister went through the D.A.R.E. program. They were always telling me to Say No To Drugs. My sister would come home from school and tell us about all the gross pictures and videos they watched about people on crack and meth. She always told stories about how the people’s teeth were nasty and that they were so skinny they looked like skeletons. Now that I’m in the class I understand why not to take drugs and what they can do to your body. In D.A.R.E. I have learned about a few drugs that can hurt you.Tobacco is the number one cause of lung, mouth, throat, kidney and bladder cancer. Smoking causes heart disease. More than 400,000 Americans die each year from tobacco-related causes. If you use tobacco products you are putting yourself and your loved ones in danger.

I also want to tell you about the drug marijuana and what it can do to you. If you smoke marijuana you are more likely to have breathing problems and short term memory loss. Marijuana also causes colds and upper respiratory problems and can increase the risk of cancer.

Now that I know all the bad effects drugs have on my body, I pledge to stay drug free forever and to encourage other to stay drug free, too

DEFINE, ASSESS, RESPOND & EVALUATE
by Ashlyn Lamberth

Have you ever heard of D.A.R.E.? D.A.R.E. is a program is a program that the fifth grade does. It teaches you how to resist drugs, and it also helps you know facts about drugs and alcohol. In this report I will tell you about a few things I learned in D.A.R.E. not only do you learn in D.A.R.E., but you have fun doing it.

Before I tell you about what I learned, I am going to tell you about the D.D.M.M. D.D.M.M. stands for “D.A.R.E. Decision Making Model.” Here’s what it does:
D = It helps you DEFINE your problem.
A = ASSESS your choices.
R = RESPOND by making a choice.
E = EVALUATE your choice. Was it a good choice?

That is what D.D.M.M. stands for, but I will now tell you what it is used for. It is used for making decisions. We did some problems tat were in our D.A.R.E. planner. In these problems we used the D.D.M.M. Here is one of the problems:

“You play on a soccer team. The team depends on you as the goalkeeper. You are invited to your best friend’s birthday party at the same time as the game. You would miss the big game. How would you decide what to do?” We had to use the D.D.M.M. to solve the problem. It helped me a lot in doing these problems.

First, I am going to talk about marijuana. Marijuana has many names, such as Pot, Weed and Herb. Most of these are “slang” names. I am telling you this so you will know names it can be called so you will stay away from them. Marijuana can cause breathing problems, you cannot concentrate very well and you could get short term memory loss. Did you know that marijuana smokers can have more colds and upper respiratory problems? Well, it’s true. Marijuana also contains 50% to 70% more of some cancer causing chemicals than tobacco smoke.

Inhalants is on the list next, so on to it. Inhalance is where you get an object such as paint fumes or glue and inhale close to it. You may not think this can hurt you, but it can. It can cut off oxygen and your mind will not be able to function correctly because your brain cells could die. That’s why you do not want to do inhalance.

Now we shall take a trip to the land of beer and wine. This is a bad land. We are going to try to convince these people not to drink anymore by telling them facts about how these drinks could hurt their bodies. If you drink any type of alcohol, you may experience some side effects such as loss of coordination, slow reflexes, loss of self control, poor judgment, memory apses and slurred speech.

Here’s some more info. Too much alcohol can slow down your body, and that can lead to comas or even death. It can also damage EVERY organ in your whole body. Alcohol is illegal to anyone under the age of 21. Since teens and children are still growing, our bodies are more affected than adult bodies are by alcohol. This is one reason why no one under 21 can buy or drink alcohol.

Okay, now you all know that alcohol can be deadly, on to peer pressure. This is our last topic. Personal peer pressure is what happens to you when you have to make a decision and NO ONE else is pressuring you but yourself. In these situations you need to use the D.D.M.M. First, define your problem. Second, assess your choices. Third, respond by making a choice. Lastly, evaluate. Did you make a good choice?

This is the end of my report. I hope you were inspired and taught by this selection. One last thing I need to say. I pledge not to do any drugs, drink or anything else of that nature. Do you?