DARE PROGRAM IS NOT ALL THAT EFFECTIVE

To The Editor: Good intentions are no substitute for effective drug
abuse prevention. Independent evaluations of Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE) have found the program to be ineffective or counterproductive.

The scare tactics used do more harm than good.

Students who realize they've been lied to about marijuana may make
the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like methamphetamine are
relatively harmless as well.

This is a recipe for disaster.

Drug education programs must be reality-based or they may backfire
when kids are inevitably exposed to drug use among peers.

The importance of parental involvement in reducing drug use cannot be
overstated.

School-based extracurricular activities have also proved effective.
They keep kids busy during the hours they're most likely to get into trouble.

In order for drug education to effectively reduce harm, it has to be credible.

The most popular recreational drug and the one most closely
associated with violent behavior is often overlooked.

That drug is alcohol; it takes far more lives each year than all
illegal drugs combined. Alcohol may be legal, but it's still the No.
1 drug problem.

The U.S. Government Accounting Office report at
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03172r.pdf confirms my claims regarding DARE.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Washington

Robert Sharpe is policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy.
Contact them at www.csdp.org, or P.O. Box 59181, Washington, DC 20012
or call (703) 228-1762.