DOES DARE DETER DRUG USE?

Studies have shown it does not work. The U.S. Department of Education now
refuses to fund it, and its own authors have conceded changes are needed.
Yet the Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, program remains the
overwhelming prevention program of choice among East Tennessee's public
school systems and continues to draw the unequivocal support of most local
police agencies and parent groups.

Only the Knoxville Police Department has opted to launch its own study of
the effectiveness of the drug prevention program. Spokesman Darrell Debusk
said Sgts. Melinda Claiborne and Jerry Armstrong are preparing a report for
administrators that will "outline some options we would have," Debusk said.

But most other law enforcement agencies and school officials remain staunch
defenders of the popular program, including those who were aware DARE's
effectiveness was being questioned.

Why then is a program with such dubious credentials so widely used in East
Tennessee?

Officials contacted last week offered these reasons:

*i It's popular. "I can probably bring you a hundred parents who would say
DARE has made a difference in their children's lives," said Sevierville
Police Chief Robbie Fox.

*i It's a great public-relations tool for law enforcement, particularly
with students. "It is very effective at bridging that gap (between police
and students)," Knox County Sheriff's Department Capt. Brian Stannard said.
"Very often I can tell by (a child's) attitude when they see me in uniform
whether they've had DARE or not."

*i It's largely cost-free for schools since law enforcement pays the DARE
officer's salary. "Both the Sheriff's Department and the Police Department
totally fund and support the DARE program in the schools," Knox County
schools Supervisor Nancy Merritt said. "We believe it does raise drug
awareness with the children."

*i It's the only drug prevention game in town. "Until they can show me
something that works better, I'm not eager to change," Stannard said. "I
don't think we need less of DARE. We need more of it (targeting other grade
levels)."

*i It's better than nothing. "If we save just one child, have we not
accomplished our purpose?" asked Pigeon Forge Police Chief Jack Baldwin.
"You put up speed limit signs. ... That doesn't mean everyone is going to
stop speeding. You do what you can do to protect people."

The DARE program, initiated in Los Angeles in 1983, is the most widely used
school-based, drug-prevention program in the United States, with some 75
percent of public school systems participating.

Since its inception, it has been controversial, as critics argued its "Just
Say No" message was too simplistic to effectively steer school children
away from cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.

It is also expensive to operate. DARE America, the nonprofit group
responsible for developing the curriculum used and the training provided to
law enforcement officers who teach it, has received $1.75 million a year
from the federal government. Participating law enforcement agencies
annually commit thousands of dollars to the program, including the salaries
of officers who instruct students and the cost of supplies such as
T-shirts, plaques, bumper stickers and stuffed animals.

School systems' contributions come in the form of instructional hours.
Under the basic DARE program, fifth-graders spend one hour each week over a
17-week period in the drug-education class. School time is also taken for
DARE graduation ceremonies held each year. In Knox County, there also is a
seventh-grade DARE program that currently is being put into place in most
of the system's middle schools.

Despite a lack of evidence the program actually worked and complaints about
its expense, its popularity kept rising, and DARE America had fiercely
defended its effectiveness.

But the drumbeat of critics has grown much louder in recent years with a
series of studies that examined whether involvement in DARE actually
lowered the level of student drug use to a greater degree than standard
drug education offered in most health classes.

The most damning study was conducted by researchers at the University of
Kentucky and released in 1999. It tracked 1,002 sixth-graders who were
divided into two groups: those who had taken the 17-week DARE class and
those who had received basic drug education as part of their normal studies.

Researchers followed the students until they reached age 20, when they were
again polled on attitudes about drugs, actual drug use and self-esteem. The
study showed that DARE was no more effective than basic drug education in
any of the three categories.

"In no case did the DARE group have a more successful outcome than the
comparison group," researchers wrote.

Then, last year, the U.S. Department of Education enacted tough new rules
that require school systems to show proof the program works before grant
money would be awarded for DARE. Later, the department empaneled 15 experts
to evaluate all drug prevention programs listed in grant applications.

That panel issued a list of 42 programs deemed either exemplary or
"promising." DARE did not make the list.

DARE America responded with a detailed plan for school systems to use in
order to convince the education department the program should be funded. At
the same time, it promised a retooling of the program and, in February,
finally conceded that DARE, now in its 18th year, had not made a
significant impact on students' lives.