Dear Police Officer, The first day I saw a police officer at my school, I thought, what did we do wrong? What kind of bad news was the police officer going to tell us? When I learned that the police officer was going to teach us about Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) at my school, I thought that I should tell him that I don?t do drugs or drink alcohol because they are bad for you. After a couple weeks of DARE, we learned about how bad marijuana is. I must say why do people even use marijuana? It harms your whole entire body. Here are some facts I learned in D.A.R.E about marijuana. Marijuana is made from a plant called cannabis sativa. When you smoke marijuana, you are not in touch with reality. In addition, Marijuana has four times more tar than cigarette smoke so it causes more lung damage. Eighty thousand people visit the emergency room every year, it is bad for your heath and blood, it causes heart attacks, and lastly it causes 4% permanent memory loss. I think that?s terrible because that?s only some of the reasons and no matter how bad your life is, it is not worth all that damage to your body. Recently in Las Vegas, they found 21 pounds of marijuana with an estimated street value of $50,000, hidden inside a television set. The people who hid the marijuana got a life sentence in jail and had to pay a fine. To think that people would go that low of a level to smoke marijuana or even try to earn $50,000 that way. Can?t these people make money some other way? In Canada, some people want to start a place where pot smoking is legal? I think that?s crazy because it harms you in so many ways. Now let?s hear about alcohol. (I am Pre-tending to be a teacher) Ok class lets talk about the life of a drunkard. This creature sleeps for 2 to 2.5 hours, it eats for 15 to 30 minutes each meal then lastly it drinks THE REST OF THE TIME!!!!!!!!! Okay class, this type of life happens to people because alcohol is addictive. Drinking becomes dangerous and addictive if adult males drink five cups or more and female?s four cups or more a day, every day. Class please pay attention and take notes about this section about drinking. Alcoholics start to drink because they see so many happy people in ads that they think they will be happy if they drink. There are so many ads. Companies have spent billions on ads. In 2005 they spent 4.5 billion dollars on ads! Can you believe that companies spent $590 million on magazine ads and $22 million online banner ads! Here is a helpful fact if you ever want to drink; over 17,000 people die from drunk driving ever year. Enough about alcohol, lets move on to tobacco Game Show style. Welcome to the newest game show called, Protecting you from Drugs. The category for today is Tobacco! ?Here are our contestants: McCrazy Dude, Bob Snagart, Habnadder Jr. First up, McCrazy Dude. What does smoking do to you if you use it?? ?It makes you feel cool? ?WRONG!!!!!" "The right answer is that it affects your heart, liver, lungs, mouth, throat, and your brain.? It?s Bob Snagart?s turn. Bob?s question is ?How much money does the tobacco companies spend yearly in advertising?? ?Could it be eight billion dollars a year?? Ding Ding Ding ?correct you have one point so far?. Habnadder Jr. Answer this and you?re tied for first place. Is nicotine addictive? ?Yes, I do believe it is addictive.? Uh, correct but ?. Never mind. The last question goes to McCrazy Dude. How many chemicals are in tobacco? ?Is the answer four thousand seven hundred?? Yes! Looks like you all tied up, but to bad we are all out of time. See you next time on, Protecting you from Drugs. Those are only a few of the facts folks, there are many more, so Do NOT do drugs! I want to live life the fullest and make it the best I can. I Do NOT want to take any dangerous risks. I want to have fun and have a safe and healthy life.?I will not be able to do that if I take drugs, so I have to stay away from that type of life. I have come to the end, so I Laurence Eli solemnly swear not to do drugs under any circumstance. But that doesn?t mean when I am old enough I won?t have a cup of wine now and then. Laurence Eli P.S I enjoyed the D.A.R.E classes. P.P.S Thanks for taking some part of your day to inform us about Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Who knows if this saves us later on from a bad choice in our life. So one final thanks to spending your time with us on all these important facts about harmful drugs.