FOR ANTI-DRUG LESSONS, CALL IN THE REINFORCEMENTS

Suppose public schools taught basic math to students for one semester,
when they were in the fifth grade, and then, several years later,
administered a high-stakes examination in calculus.

Would you expect the students to pass the test?

Of course not. Yet that's how most communities and school districts
teach a critical subject: prevention of drug abuse among children and
teen-agers.

Take Sarasota County, for example, which embraced the Drug Abuse
Resistance Education program -- DARE -- early and enthusiastically in
the 1980s.

The 17-week course was and is presented to fifth-graders, as it is in
about 75 percent of school districts nationwide. The program is
intended to give children information about drugs and tips for
resisting invitations to use them -- before the onset of
adolescence.

Although university studies and national organizations have questioned
whether DARE is effective as a long-term strategy, the concept of
early intervention is sound -- if it's supplemented.

But in Sarasota County, for instance, there is no comprehensive,
districtwide extension of DARE. Students get a dose of preventive
medicine in the fifth grade, at a time when drug-use rates among their
peers are low. With a few exceptions, that's all they get in school,
even though the temptations become more frequent and intense as they
pass through middle school and high school.

This short-term focus ignores a requisite of effective prevention,
according to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, which emphasizes
that "prevention programs should be long-term, over the school career
with repeat interventions to reinforce the original prevention goals ...
school-based efforts directed at elementary and middle school students
should include booster sessions to help with critical transitions from
middle to high school."

Researchers aren't the only ones who hold that view. Some "experts" in
the field -- 37 high school juniors who met recently with Sarasota
County Sheriff Bill Balkwill -- agree. Balkwill met with the students,
participants in the Youth Leadership Sarasota County program, to
discuss ideas for improving anti-drug education in schools. I joined
the discussion as a moderator.

Virtually all the students experienced -- and remembered -- DARE.
Their assessments of the program were mixed, and seemed to depend
largely on the quality and energy of the law enforcement instructor.
The main message: Fifth-grade strategies don't work for high school
students at late-night parties.

Here are some of the suggestions from the 11th-graders:

"There's not continuing education but there should be. I can't
remember what I learned in history the first quarter of this year.
We're not going to remember everything from fifth grade."

"When you're younger, you have a different view of authority. A lot of
kids accept what officers tell them in fifth grade. But, when they're
older, they start to question authority."

"Teens need to hear from other teens who can show that you can be
accepted without doing drugs."

"A lot of teen-agers aren't getting information about
drugs."

"Kids need to be in a comfortable environment, and there needs to be
peer mentoring."

"We want to hear from real people who've got into trouble with drugs,
not just the officers or teachers."

"Ninth-graders really need direction. That's when they can start to
make their own choices."

"In high school, kids are looking for acceptance. They need to hear
from other kids that they can be accepted without using drugs."

"Parents have a responsibility. It's foolish for them to turn a blind
eye."

There are opportunities for constructive change: DARE is reassessing
its approach. School district officials say they recognize the need
for continuing education. Balkwill appears willing to listen to
students and consider a new strategy. And among the top goals of the
recently formed Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Sarasota
County is the creation of a continuing, age-appropriate prevention
program for students that provides for parental and peer
involvement.

The advice from the students was plain, simple and sensible. Will the
adults of the community accept it?