Proclamation 6984

by Bill Clinton

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.

William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., April 11, 1997]