SCHOOLS' ANTIDRUG PROGRAMS CRITICIZED

CHAPEL HILL - Most public schools continue to use taxpayer funded drug
prevention programs that have proven to be largely ineffective in
reducing drug use among students, according to a study released yesterday.

Programs like DARE, Drug Awareness and Resistance Education, that send
police officers into schools to lecture students are used in 8 out of
10 schools despite studies showing they do little to combat drug use,
said researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The US Department of Education spent $566 million, about $5 per child,
on drug prevention programs last year. Under a policy adopted in 1998,
schools will have to prove that the programs have been effective in
reducing drug use.