The overarching goal of the entire D.A.R.E. program is to significantly reduce/eliminate the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs and the use of violent behavior by young people.

The primary objectives of the D.A.R.E. programs are directed towards developing the capacities needed to enable students to take charge of their lives with particular emphasis on healthy, pro-social decision making skills regarding non-substance use and abuse.

Those objectives include the following:

• Students will understand the physical, emotional, social and legal risks and effects of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and inhalants on their developing brains and bodies.
• Students will compare and contrast the normative beliefs of peers in their classroom with the national data about teen use of ATOD (alcohol, tobacco and other drugs) and revise their understanding/beliefs about how many peers do not use ATOD.
• Students will expand their knowledge about a variety of positive things to do in their school and community (pro-Social behavior) that do not involve the use of ATOD and will choose to engage in those activities rather than use of ATOD.
• Students will understand what refusal strategies, sound communication skills and assertiveness and resistance skills are and will be able to apply them in a variety of life-like situations.