STEP BOLSTERS DARE CRITICS

Say Overhaul Shows Program Should End

Critics of a popular drug prevention program known as DARE are seizing on a
recent announcement that the program is being overhauled to bolster their
case for dropping it in Suffolk County.

In the Drug Awareness Resistance Education program, uniformed officers
teach students about staying away from drugs and building self-esteem.

Suffolk Police Commissioner John Gallagher, however, has called for ending
DARE's decade-long presence in county classrooms by next fall. Gallagher
cited studies that cast doubt on whether the program discourages youths
from experimenting with drugs, and argued that new curriculum requirements
will have educators covering much of the same ground.

Last week, the Institute for Health and Social Policy at the University of
Akron and DARE officials announced that they were revamping the program.
The institute has designed a new 7th and 9th grade curriculum and will test
it over the next several years using a $13.7-million grant from the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation.

"By having to revise their curriculum, the people responsible for the DARE
program are acknowledging some of the problems that various studies have
indicated are associated with the program, " said Eric Kopp, County
Executive Robert Gaffney's chief deputy. Gaffney supports Gallagher's
efforts to end the DARE program.

Federal officials and national researchers also have questioned DARE's
effectiveness.

A recent National Research Council panel on juvenile crime concluded DARE
has had "little impact" and cited a follow-up study finding suburban DARE
graduates actually had shown a slight increase in drug use.

But DARE supporters who tout the bond built between students and officers
were not admitting defeat.

"They haven't said there's anything wrong with the current program," said
Nancy Schwartz, an organizer of a lobbying campaign by the Half Hollow
Hills PTA to save DARE.

"They're going to put more time and energy and research in continuing to
improve the program," Schwartz said. "I don't think that's available to
these less expensive programs" that Suffolk is considering as alternatives.

DARE America spokesman Ralph Lockridge denied yesterday that "DARE had
admitted failure." Comparing the new program to the unveiling of a new
Lexus model, he said, "It doesn't mean the old Lexus -- that there's
anything wrong with it."

Lockridge said that under the revised program, the emphasis would shift
from the current 17-week core program in 5th or 6th grade to 10 weeks of
lessons in 7th grade with a 9th-grade follow-up course. A shorter
elementary school program is also under development, he said.

Instead of delivering lectures, DARE officers would act more like coaches
or facilitators, providing students with information and challenging them
to make proper choices, said Lockridge.

"It's basically providing them an opportunity to think for themselves," he
said.

In Suffolk, a new county legislative task force made up of county officials
and educators plans to meet as early as next week to begin holding public
hearings and analyzing the program.

Gallagher said that the revamping of the national DARE program only added
more steam to his efforts to kill the program.

He cited a University of Michigan study showing that 54 percent of high
school seniors report trying an illicit drug -- even though DARE now
operates in 80 percent of school districts nationwide.

"That's all really saying what the studies before this were hinting at:
This program isn't really getting through to youngsters," Gallagher said.