Drug Abuse Resistance Education ("D.A.R.E.") was created in 1983 to teach children from kindergarten through high school that popularity, self-worth, and self-confidence are not attained by submitting to negative peer pressure and destructive temptation. Every week for 10 weeks, D.A.R.E. sends a specially trained police officer into the classrooms of sixth grade students to teach the students not only why they should refuse drugs and alcohol, but also how to do so. The D.A.R.E. program follows a carefully structured curriculum, focusing on topics such as personal safety, drug use and misuse, resisting peer pressure, building self-esteem, role models and support systems. Through their participation in the D.A.R.E. program at an age when they are most vulnerable to social pressure, the children establish the foundation for a healthy and productive lifestyle.

Every year over 700 hundred sixth grade students in Newport Beach successfully complete the D.A.R.E. program. In celebration, the Newport Beach Police Department, in conjunction with the school district, hosts a "D.A.R.E. FAIR" which provides entertainment, refreshments and positive recreational activities for these sixth graders.