National D.A.R.E. Day, 1997

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 6984 of April 9, 1997

National D.A.R.E. Day, 1997

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Today we honor Drug Abuse Resistance Education
(D.A.R.E.), the largest and most widely recognized
substance abuse prevention and safety-promotion
curriculum in the Nation. First developed in 1983,
D.A.R.E. has continued to improve its methods as
research findings have increased our knowledge of
effective substance abuse prevention among school-age
youth. More than 70 percent of America's school
districts have adopted the program, and over 8,000
cooperative partnerships between law enforcement
agencies and school districts now exist across the
country. By virtue of D.A.R.E.'s expansive use and
national impact, this acronym has achieved broad name
recognition in association with substance abuse
prevention, making the D.A.R.E. officer one of the most
recognizable symbols for community policing and
prevention.

Students, parents, police officers, and school
administrators have long been familiar with the
benefits of the D.A.R.E. program, and research has
shown that ongoing reinforcement of drug prevention
skills is critical in decreasing the likelihood of drug
use by our youth.

Today and throughout the year, let us recognize
D.A.R.E. as a model of partnership between educators,
law enforcement, parents, and students, and let us
commend D.A.R.E. officers for their dedicated efforts
to help educate the children of America about the
importance of remaining drug free.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim April 10, 1997, as National
D.A.R.E. Day. I call upon our youth, parents, and
educators, and all the people of the United States to
observe this day with appropriate activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred and ninety-seven, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and
twenty-first.