DARE PROGRAM SHOULD CONTINUE

Summary: Loss Of State Patrol Support Shouldn't Spell The End Of DARE Program.

The DARE - Drug Abuse Resistance Education - program has become quite
controversial in recent years, with local schools and police departments
that strongly support it squaring off against some studies that show the
program's effectiveness at reducing drug abuse among teens is short-lived
at best.

Couple that controversy with the news recently that the Iowa State Patrol
has decided it can no longer afford to offer the DARE program in some Iowa
schools, and it's tempting to sigh, "Oh, well ... Bye- bye, DARE."

That would be the wrong decision.

The State Patrol, faced with limited resources (as are most state agencies
in the current budget climate) has decided that the $184,000 it spends
annually on DARE programs would be better spent keeping officers on the
highways than in school classrooms. Six officers taught the program and
trained local police to talk to students about drugs.

It's hard to argue with that decision. Having to choose between working on
highway safety and DARE, we, also, would opt for putting the troopers on
the highways.

But the loss of State Patrol support doesn't have to be - nor should it be
- - the end of DARE in some schools.

For example, Clear Lake was faced with the same situation last year. State
troopers previously offered the program in Clear Lake schools, but then
decided the community was big enough to handle the program itself. That's
precisely what happened.

Clear Lake police officers Paul Chizek and David Monson began working with
fifth grade DARE classes at Clear Creek Elementary School last year. The
two officers even did their own fund-raisers to limit the city's costs.

"I think it's a great program," Monson said. "We have great support."

Chizek said he sees the DARE program as one building block in shaping young
people's lives.

"There's a lot of things that are going to impact fifth-graders for a long
time," he said. Hopefully, DARE is a building block that reinforces the
message children are already getting from parents, he said.

Most of the studies that have questioned DARE's effectiveness show that the
message does not last - that those students who receive DARE as their only
lesson on drug abuse have forgotten the message by the time they hit high
school.

That doesn't mean it isn't effective as a starting point, however. Keeping
kids away from drugs must be an ongoing effort that involves the schools,
the family and the community. DARE can play an important role as one part
of that process.

Additionally, DARE is a great way to introduce students to police at a
young age in a non-confrontational manner, to reinforce that the police are
their friends, not their enemies.

The experience at Clear Lake shows that those schools faced with the loss
of State Patrol support for DARE would do well to look to their own police
departments or county sheriffs departments to take over the program.

DARE isn't perfect, and it isn't a panacea, but it's a good start in a
long-term effort at keeping kids clean.