IOWA PATROL JUST SAYS 'NO' TO DARE

$184,000 Savings Will Put Troopers Back On Highway

DES MOINES -- The Iowa State Patrol has ended its involvement with a
popular anti-drug program taught in Iowa schools.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program is too expensive and takes
officers off the highway, patrol officials told The Des Moines Register.

The patrol will save $184,000 annually by dropping DARE. Six officers
taught the program and trained local police on talking to students about drugs.

The patrol's exit is a blow to the program after the Iowa City and Council
Bluffs school districts ended their DARE programs earlier this year.

DARE was created in 1983 by Los Angeles police officers. It entered Iowa
classrooms in 1988. It aims to teach students to avoid tobacco, alcohol and
other drugs, to raise their self-esteem, and to resist peer pressure.

The program has come under fire in recent years after national studies
questioned its effectiveness. In Iowa DARE officers in Norwalk and
Urbandale were arrested on drug charges.

Some research backs the program.

A 1998 study in Ohio found students who participated in DARE were less
likely to use drugs.

"We're trying to fight a good fight at the grass-roots level and say this
is a good program," said John Sheahan, president of the Iowa DARE
association and principal of Roland-Story Middle School. "I can't think of
a better way to introduce a police officer to children."

Sheahan said DARE leaders are aware of the criticism of the program.

"Nobody at the local, state, or federal level has any statistics that it's
not working," he said. "Kids say DARE is a good thing. If we save five
kids, we've more than paid for it."

The Iowa Legislature approved the State Patrol's exit earlier this year
after a House appropriations bill cut the patrol's budget, including
$80,000 in state money allocated for DARE.

Funding for the program comes from a drunken-driving surcharge distributed
through counties.

Rep. Lance Horbach, R-Tama, said the move had more to do with putting more
troopers on the highway.

Rep. Paul Bell, D-Newton, a police officer and DARE supporter, said several
lawmakers argued that the program fails to keep children off drugs.

Sheahan said remaining state money will likely go to workbooks, T-shirts, a
state conference, and newsletter.

He also hopes to have enough to pay a part-time officer to pick up some of
the slack caused by the patrol's exit.