The Santa Maria Police Department and the Santa Maria Bonita School District held a D.A.R.E. Graduation for 6th graders on Friday.
1000 students from 10 schools completed the D.A.R.E program this semester.
The Official International D.A.R.E. Safety and Self-Esteem Buddy, RETRO BILL, spoke at the graduation for the 16th consecutive year.
The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E) program is a comprehensive drug prevention curriculum taught across the U.S. In thousands of schools.
The program is taught in more than 50 countries and reaches more than 1.5 million students annually.
The Santa Maria Police Department began teaching the D.A.R.E. Program in 1991.
