IT DOESN'T PAY TO 'DARE' KIDS

I applaud Suffolk County Police Commissioner John Gallagher's
opposition to the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program ["DARE May
Be Near End," Jan. 19]. DARE and other "zero tolerance" drug education
programs are well-documented failures at reducing drug use. But drug
education is not just about reducing the number of kids who try
drugs-it is also about reducing the number of overdoses and deaths
caused by drug use. By relying on scare tactics and misinformation,
DARE and other zero-tolerance drug education programs erode the
credibility of educators and deprive kids of life-saving information.
The fact is, despite hearing "just say no," many kids say, "maybe,"
"sometimes" or "yes." Instead of the failed zero-tolerance approach,
reality-based drug education would provide kids with honest
information on the dangers that different drugs pose.

When I was in elementary school in East Setauket, the DARE officer who
visited my class taught us that all drug use is abuse and that
marijuana is just as dangerous as heroin and cocaine. Inevitably, we
were later exposed to drug use and discovered that what we were taught
was not the truth. It is difficult for kids to heed the honest
warnings about harder drugs once they learn they were misled. Sadly, a
few of my peers who tried marijuana and experienced few negative
consequences made the mistake of trying harder drugs. DARE is
expensive and ineffective-and dangerous.

Kristy Gomes,
Washington, D.C.

Editor's Note: The writer is a research associate at the Lindesmith Center-Drug
Policy Foundation.