Paula White
Northern News Services

INUVIK (July 09/99) - RCMP Const. Paul Joy walked into the classroom full of grades 5 and 6 students carrying a portable CD player.

He set it down on a desk, pressed play and began dancing around the room to a popular tune.

That proved to be a great ice breaker with the students, which was important for Joy because he was teaching them about drug and alcohol resistance.

This was the first year that the Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education course was taught in Inuvik schools, and judging by its success, it won't be the last. The SAM students graduated on June 17.

"I think it went really well," said Joy. "In terms of what the kids got out of it, it appears to me that they've really been affected by it in a positive way."

He explained that the other officers at the detachment have commented that kids seem to be more approachable on the whole and more relaxed around police officers.

The course consists of 17 units and runs for the entire school year (September to June). It is geared toward Grade 5 students, but it was decided that since this was the first year for it, the course should be given to Grade 6 students as well, before they head off to junior high school.

"It talks about areas or experiences that students their age are having right now. It discusses the possibilities of what's going to happen in high school," Joy said. "That's why it's geared at grade 5 and 6, because it's the timing. They're most impressionable at that stage of their schooling."

Joy added that it would be impossible for Inuvik RCMP to teach all the grades -- kindergarten to Grade 12 -- but said DARE has curriculums for those groups.

As it was, Joy taught two Grade 5 classes and two Grade 6 classes. The course was usually taught once a week.

"With school holidays, sometimes it never worked out," he explained. "But we did finish it."

The course starts out with a short lesson on drugs. Joy said he talked about the various kinds of drugs and what effect they have on the body. Other areas covered in the DARE course are risks, consequences of choices, resolving conflicts, violence and communication.

"There's a lot of emphasis on communication," he explained. "First of all, with your parents. I can't say that enough. Always talk to their parents about any experience or problems that they have, and if they don't get the response that they want, find someone who understands and wants to listen and help them. Because all parents don't give the best advice."

That "someone else" could be a trusted relative or, for social problems, a teacher, police officer, principal or minister. Joy said he doesn't recommend the students talk to their peers about certain problems such as drugs, peer pressure, partying and sex.

"Their peers are most likely not going to tell them the truth," he said. "They're going to tell them a story that's going to make them look good, look cool. They're not going to be honest."

One example that Joy mentioned to the students deals with smoking. He said the first North American to try smoking a cigarette was Samuel du Champlain and his comment was that it tasted like he was kissing ashes.

"I just tell the kids that anybody that tells you the first time they tried smoking that they enjoyed it and liked it are lying to you," he said. "So that's one of the reasons why I don't want them to go to their peers for advice."

One of the teaching tools that Joy used during the year was role playing. He said that, after certain discussions, the students would write their own skits and perform them. Joy explained he preferred to use teaching methods where the students had an active part.

"We're not restricted to just reading," he said. "We try to reach them through art, we try to reach them through music. Any kind of mode of learning, we use."

He also encouraged the students to come up with their own suggestions on ways to deal with peer pressure and stress. He said some of their suggestions really impressed him. They mentioned activities like reading, going for a walk, watching TV, going for an ice cream. A lot of kids, he added, brought up sports.

"That's an area they have very positive feedback from," Joy said. "I really stress physical activity."

The DARE program was first started in the late 1980s in the United States in response to the drug problems in inner cities. It has expanded since then and is now taught internationally. Joy said that in order to become qualified to teach the course, he spent two weeks training in Edmonton.

"This course is designed to be taught by police officers only," he explained. "There's very strict guidelines."