DENIAL CAN'T CHANGE FACTS ABOUT DARE

DARE officer John Warner's recent Opinion piece desperately defended a
disastrous drug program he's been associated with for years. One can
sympathize with his plight. All recent credible scientific studies have
shown that the DARE program is at best ineffective and at worst dangerous.
Warner is understandably troubled that his efforts as a DARE officer might
have resulted in more children using drugs. Or perhaps it was a natural
concern for the source of his paycheck that made him lash out at critics.

Warner has shown us the real face of DARE: the excuses, the denials, the
misleading statements, the insults and intimidation directed toward those
who question it. All are intended to divert attention from the fact that in
spite of its failure, this expensive program relies upon political
connections and propaganda for its continued existence.

The DARE program consumes $700 million annually, and a large bureaucracy
has grown up that displays a tendency to put its own interests before the
interests of our children.

The most reliable scientific evidence clearly concludes that DARE doesn't
work. DARE itself admits as much, recently announcing yet another overhaul
of its curriculum, which won't be implemented in Columbia for years.

I have reviewed DARE and scientific studies and have offered to share my
findings with Warner, who has never, so far as I can tell, reviewed the
research. He insists DARE be judged by its intentions rather than its results.

What are those results?

* A 1993 analysis of all DARE research conducted by the Research Triangle
Institute and funded by the National Institute of Justice concluded DARE
has "a limited to essentially non-existent effect" on drug use.

* A 1998 U.S. Department of Education analysis of more than 10,000 students
found other existing programs have better outcomes than DARE.

* A 1998 study by the University of Illinois determined children in the
suburbs who participated in DARE had significantly higher levels of drug
use than those who didn't.

Warner's airy dismissal of the growing body of credible research is all in
a day's work for a DARE dependent. The fact is, the better-controlled
studies tend to confirm DARE's ineffectiveness.

One of the many ironies of the drug war is that it puts Warner on the same
side as the drug lords: Neither wants to see an end to the policy of
prohibition. Prohibition creates the lucrative black market that enables
drug lords to make obscene profits. Prohibition also creates opportunities
for police departments to claim bigger budgets. Meanwhile, money for
effective education programs and drug-treatment programs is scarce.

Despite overwhelming evidence, our leaders hide behind a smokescreen. The
DARE public relations machine has silenced and intimidated parents,
teachers, representatives and others.

I know from experience that DARE lackeys do not hesitate to vilify publicly
those who disagree with them. Warner does not intimidate me, but it's not
me DARE means to intimidate. It's you.