I Love Me Drug Free

On a blue background a cartoonish illustration of a person with hearts for eyes is drawn with green lines and colored yellow. It hugs itself and faces three lines of text, one red, one yellow, and the last one green. 

Co-founded in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles public school system, D.A.R.E. (“Drug Abuse Resistance Education”) aimed at preventing drug use amongst students through critical educational programming. Certified police officers worked with K-12 students to develop decision-making skills and to “Just Say No” to drugs and alcohol. Kids were taught to love themselves/boost their self-esteem, strengthen resistance to peer pressure, and create and develop higher goals. By 1986, Congress passed the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, which allocated funding for D.A.R.E. and other drug use prevention programs.

While this particular button may not be directly related to D.A.R.E., it most certainly comes from the same era of teaching students to “say no” to drugs. The emphasis on loving yourself while drug free echos D.A.R.E. programming which taught students self-esteem skills. The current iteration of D.A.R.E. is grounded in scientific research with emphases on diversity, the dangers of social media, and the opioid crisis. 

And yet, while the programming has definitely saved lives, current scientific research shows that such programming may be ineffective at best and harmful at worst. The way forward, especially with the ongoing opioid crisis in America, is not clear, but the importance of keeping our children safe from drugs and alcohol prevails.