The anti-drug group D.A.R.E.’s 2022 officer of the year asserts in a new online documentary that “alcohol is a gateway drug”—though he occasionally drinks it. But marijuana is another story and can’t be safely enjoyed recreationally, he says, despite believing that cannabis has medical value after it helped treat his brother-in-law’s cancer-related pain.
D.A.R.E.’s president, meanwhile, acknowledges in the documentary that some of the criticism of the war on drugs might have something to do with earlier scandals within federal agencies, such as the CIA’s implication in a cocaine-smuggling conspiracy that he described as an “unfortunate part of our history.”
As the decades-old program works to reshape its image and move away from its scaremongering anti-drug roots under the Reagan administration, the leaders of the group convened for an international conference in Las Vegas last year where independent journalist Andrew Callaghan spoke to them about contemporary drug policy issues.
The interviews are featured in a documentary for the Callahan’s YouTube program Channel 5 that was released this month.
One of the more notable conversations involved Alex Mendoza, the 2022 D.A.R.E. officer of the year, who has worked to redefine the program’s approach to youth drug prevention.
“For me, it’s really about educating the youth that are out there—to give them the tools necessary to navigate whatever pain that they’re going through” that might lead to substance misuse, he said. “I think that if you don’t have that self-love for yourself and that resiliency, then you’re gonna go to that external source, whatever that might be.”
Hellbound and Down 