Oh man, our DARE officiers burnt weed scented candles and asked us if we ever smelled this at home. I had, but i was also, at like 8yo going "wtf, this is evil" in my head. And im very thankful my parents educated me on this kind of stuff and its intent early on.
There were kids in my class that raised their hand. They took these kids out fo the classroom. We never saw a couple of them again. None of the other kids knew what was up, and i was scared to tell them for teachers or police finding out my parents smoked pot. I was terrified for a while at school after this. Completely traumatized. Was years on into high school before i had a teacher i felt like i could trust again.
My parents were great parents, way better then most. And hard working tax paying citizens too, And the government was trying to steal me from them, is the way i perceived this. My mom kept herself off opiates after a HORRIBLE back surgery with cannabis. It was incredibly obvious growing up, especially with several friends who had painkiller addicted parents, how lucky i was my mom chose to do this even though a huge double edges sword. But they aslo educated us young, and told us what it was, and why it was around, and where mom would have been without it, BEFORE the dare classes started.
In my generation, DARE focused mainly on cannabis, and the point was to figure out what kid's parents were using it. They focused alot on teaching children....exactly how meth was made too... (imho the current meth epidemic across the entire country... DARE classes along side over prescribing children with amphetamines is hugely responsible for that.)
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