LAFAYETTE, La. — After a hiatus of more than 20 years, the D.A.R.E. program is making a return to Lafayette slowly but surely, according to Lafayette City Marshal Reggie Thomas.
His team is bringing back the program, known as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, as part of what Thomas calls a last-ditch effort to combat the local opioid crisis, with a specific focus on Fentanyl.
"This is not the same D.A.R.E. program people remember, this program has changed, and the changes are tremendous," Thomas says. "I will tell you this, to me we have no choice, Fentanyl is for real."
The modernized program also features tips and workshops for protecting the mental health of students as social media platforms continue to grow online.
So far, the city marshal's office has one D.A.R.E. officer trained and ready to start teaching by the end of the month at one school — Lafayette Renaissance Charter Academy. Within the next year, however, Thomas hopes to have at least four officers trained to cover more ground.
According to D.A.R.E. representatives, the training for a D.A.R.E. officer lasts about two weeks. Deputy City Marshal Tyrone Alexander is the inaugural officer of the revised program, something he tells KATC he participated in himself back when he was in fifth grade.
"I remember my D.A.R.E. officer and that makes all the difference," Alexander says. "I have a master's degree in education, so when I decided to move forward with this, I thought I'd be training, getting in at eight and off at 11, maybe learn a few things, but that's not the case. We had to actually go in there, retain, and teach our groups."
It's a training Thomas says his team foots the bill for, while also counting on help from a D.A.R.E. grant. While he told KATC he was unable to provide the exact dollar amount of the grant, it's something Thomas says is worth about half a D.A.R.E. officer's salary.
Still, there is skepticism over the new and improved program and its changes, some referring to national studies that criticize the effectiveness of previous versions.
"I think if people really want to tackle a problem we haven't faced before such as Fentanyl, we need to look critically at things we have faced before," Miranda Davis, a local activist and author, tells KATC. "Things such as D.A.R.E., we have evidence of that not working in the past, so why are we bringing back something that hasn't worked before?"
For Thomas, he says the answer is simple.
"It's not necessarily about tracking the numbers on paper," Thomas says. "If one kid comes up to my officer and tells him that that's the reason why he's not doing drugs, then the program works."
The revamped program is set to commence at LRCA on September 26.
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