[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 15 (Monday, April 14, 1997)]
[Pages 493-494]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6984--National D.A.R.E. Day, 1997

April 9, 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

[[Page 494]]

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]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on April 
14.