DARE II

Revision Can Make Anti-Drug Program More Effective

After 10 years and countless lectures to fifth- and sixth-graders,
the DARE program is being redesigned. That's good, because it's not
working.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has been judged
ineffective by both the Surgeon General and the National Academy of
Sciences. Studies show the lessons delivered to preteens have not
curbed their drinking and drug use when they get to high school.

But the DARE network is worth saving. Clearly, the best lessons are
delivered at home. (DARE may have given too many parents an excuse to
do nothing.) But school is where kids show up expecting to learn, and
DARE can still be a mechanism to provide lifesaving lessons.

It also establishes an early bond of trust between police and the
public that can be good for both.

The revised DARE curriculum will expand into seventh and ninth
grades, with fewer lectures from police and more research done by
students into the harmful effects of drugs. Better that's done in
class than on the street.