THE DARE DEBATE

A program aimed at keeping kids off drugs became a topic of
conversation earlier this summer when the state announced it would no
longer help fund it.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, known as DARE, has been a
mainstay in Ontario County schools since 1991. Some 20,000 kids have
taken part in the program in the county's nine school districts
outside the two cities, with thousands more having been through the
program in the city school districts in Geneva and
Canandaigua.

The state's withdrawal of funding won't put an end to the program
here, at least in the near future, based on what those involved with
it have to say.

Ontario County Sheriff Phil Povero, whose office provides police
officers to teach DARE in the schools outside the cities, said so far
no schools have opted out of DARE and "we are gearing up for the fall
semester."

In the schools using DARE officers through the sheriff's office, the
program involves students in fifth-or sixth grade taking part in
classes led by a DARE officer for 14 to 16 consecutive weeks. The
officer uses a curriculum and workbooks to guide discussions and study
topics that include the effects of smoking cigarettes, alcohol and
illegal drugs. Topics also include abuse of prescription drugs and
toxic household chemicals, such as paint thinner, that are used to get
high. Anger, peer pressure, bullying and how relationships with family
and friends affect behavior are also discussed, Povero said. The goal
is to educate students and encourage them to make healthy choices, he
said.

It's a difficult fight.

"The allure of sex and drugs will always be there," said Andy Thomas,
spokesman for the Canandaigua City School District. In the city school
district, students take DARE at the same time the kids in the other
schools do, in addition to follow-up programs tied to health education
through their senior year.

"We live in a stressful culture," Thomas said, with youngsters - as
well as adults - looking for outlets to deal with that stress. DARE
gives students information and encourages them to find outlets other
than drugs, he said. The hope is that with students learning about
drugs and the potential dangers at age 11 or 12, before most kids
begin experimenting, he said, those kids will be better equipped to
resist temptation when it comes later on.

From a financial standpoint, the amount the state has been providing
Ontario County for the DARE program is relatively small. The program
cost the sheriff's office $24,849 during the past school year, said
Povero. Revenue to help pay for the program amounted to just $4,000
from the state, while another $15,000 or so was raised through private
and public grants, fundraising and money that comes from seizures the
sheriff's office makes in drug cases.

At the Canandaigua City School District, City Council is paying
$65,000 this year for a DARE officer through the City Police
Department. That amounts to 80 percent of the total salary and
benefits of that one police officer. Thomas said the DARE officer is
at the school pretty much full-time during the school year.

No Benchmarks

Thomas said questions about the program's worth are not uncommon. But
determining its effectiveness isn't easy, he said.

A member of law enforcement agrees.

"It is tough to measure," agreed Canandaigua Police Lt. Michael
Colacino, who served as a DARE officer for five years in the late
1990s. The reason it's difficult to weigh whether the programs are
effective, he said, is that many factors play into the choices young
people make.

Thomas said Canandaigua has been doing periodic surveys to assess drug
use since the 1980s. The survey showed alcohol use dropped some years
ago, then spiked in recent years. Use of marijuana went through a
slump years ago, according to the surveys, then showed a slight upturn
more recently. The surveys have shown that use of hard drugs such as
heroin and cocaine continues to be small, said Thomas.

"Alcohol and marijuana remain the real issue," he
said.

Laurie O'Brien teaches sixth grade at Naples Central Schools, where
her students for the past 15 years have taken part in DARE.

O'Brien said she sees the relationship the kids develop with the DARE
officer as a side benefit. Some kids go into the program seeing police
officers as "bad guys," she said. But the kids end up getting to know
the DARE officer and begin seeing police officers as friends, not foes.

The DARE officer in Naples is Steven Mumby, who uses role-playing,
games and other activities in his classes. He also keeps a DARE box in
the classroom where students can drop in questions anytime, which he
then addresses either in a group or a one-on-one setting.

Mumby has been a DARE officer through the sheriff's office since 1991
and has worked with students in a half-dozen school districts. One of
his joys is seeing the kids' faces "light up" when it's DARE day, he
said.

Mumby believes DARE makes a difference, though the program should be
viewed in the proper context.

"We deserve a small amount of credit or a small amount of blame," for
the decisions a student makes, he said.

A student's DARE experience "is just a small piece of the puzzle" in
fighting drug and alcohol abuse, he said. Family and peers have a huge
impact, he said. And even then he cautioned that home life - good or
bad - doesn't necessarily determine the choices someone will make
about drugs or alcohol.

Other Perspectives

Andrea Jones, 18, a graduate of Honeoye Central School who attended
DARE, called the program "a reality check."

Kids should be getting the information about drug abuse early, she
said, and DARE offers that. Andrea's mother, Penny Jones, a secretary
at Honeoye Central School, said the kids benefit because some don't
get information or support at home for making sound choices.

But not everyone is sold on DARE.

Fifteen-year-old Jordain Moore, a rising sophomore at Naples, said the
message of DARE is repeated so often at school that it has become "tedious."

DARE points students in the right direction, said Jordain, "but in the
long run, it's mainly your choice." | Elysia Adams, 31, is a mom who
lives in Farmington and attended Canandaigua Academy and attended
DARE. She used to smoke marijuana occasionally, she said, and doesn't
know if the program had much influence on her then.

Michelle Frazer, also 31, lives in Shortsville and attended
Palmyra-Macedon. She said that at age 13 she was put in a program that
worked in conjunction with DARE to help kids that were already using
drugs and alcohol.

"I was going to school with alcohol in me," she said.

Before the school put Frazer in the special program, she was
experimenting with drugs and skipping school. She eventually ran away
from home, she said. The assistance she got in school helped her
remain clean for a time. Between her junior and senior years of high
school she was off drugs and pulling her life together.

But factors other than a "program" ultimately made the difference, she
said. When a boyfriend died - not from drug abuse - before she was out
of high school, she relapsed, relying on drugs to cope with sadness
and anger, she said. Then, at age 21, Frazer decided she wanted to
have a family and raise them to be healthy.

"I finally got off alcohol and drugs," she said.

While Adams is unsure if it helped her much when she was in school,
she's convinced DARE has its place.

"I think it enforces the right values," said Adams.

As parents, she added, "you can only tell your kids so much and they
will only listen so much."