PHASING OUT D.A.R.E.

L.B.: Police Can Be Put To Better Use On Patrol

Anti-drug abuse messages may have a place in schools, but the D.A.R.E.
program is of questionable value. The Long Beach Police Department is right
to phase the program out of middle schools and put more cops on the
streets, where they belong.

D.A.R.E., or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, assigns full-time officers to
teach schoolchildren about the potential dangers of using drugs and
alcohol. With gang violence and other crime increasing in Long Beach and
the city awash in red ink D.A.R.E. is a luxury the city and police
department can't afford.

The police department will shift three full-time police officers, from a
total of six, away from D.A.R.E. and into patrol and other more useful
duties. It should do the same with the remaining three officers and leave
anti-drug education to parents (primarily) and schools (secondarily).

The D.A.R.E. program was started by the L.A. Police Department in 1983 and
quickly gained popularity, expanding rapidly throughout the country in the
1980s. Long Beach began its program in 1987.

In recent years, though, studies by the Surgeon General's office and the
National Academy of Sciences, among others, have found that D.A.R.E. is
largely ineffective. Recent audits in Arizona and Georgia reported that
D.A.R.E. had no long-term effect on drug abuse rates among young people.

Some of D.A.R.E.'s harshest critics say that it may actually be
counterproductive; that its authoritarian style may encourage drug use by
fomenting teenage rebellion. It's probably more harmless than that, but
generally meaningless: It reinforces an anti-drug message to kids who are
less likely to use drugs, and is tuned out by those more likely to experiment.

In any case, it's an expensive program that can't be justified when
violence is increasing (70 murders in 2002) and Long Beach is struggling
with a budget deficit near $50 million.

Anti-drug education should start with parents, and schools can supplement
that with programs of their own. Long Beach police officers can, and
should, be put to better use.