DRUG OFFICIALS: D.A.R.E WASTES MONEY

Alabama's drug abuse prevention policy should shift away from funding
unproven programs like DARE and add local treatment and counseling
options for youth and families.

That was the view expressed at a meeting of family court officials,
drug treatment experts and youth advocates Friday.

"If the point is we use evidence-based programs, and the evidence
shows that DARE doesn't work, why are we spending money on DARE?"
asked John Sloan, chair of UAB's Justices Sciences Program.

Over the last decade, millions of dollars in federal, state and local
funds have poured into Drug Abuse Resistance Education, DARE, a
program that puts police into elementary school classrooms to try to
influence children not to use drugs.

Federal and state spending on DARE is on the way out, said Kent Hunt,
associate commissioner for substance abuse at the Alabama Department
of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.

"I see a movement away from that unless DARE can modify their
curriculum and get a stamp of approval as an evidence-based or
science-based program, and it's not there yet," Hunt said.

The discussion arose at an event organized by University of Alabama at
Birmingham's Treatment Alternatives to Street Crimes program. Dr.
Andrea Barthwell, a deputy director at the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, and Judge Karen Freeman Wilson,
executive director of the National Association of Drug Court
Professionals, were special guests, offering a national perspective on
drug treatment issues.

Freeman Wilson said broader use of drug courts could be a way to help
more people. Drug courts emphasize rehabilitation over prison for drug
offenders. There are 11 drug courts in Alabama.

"The utopia is for us to infuse the drug court philosophy and the way
of doing business into the criminal justice system," FreemanWilson
said.

Not enough alternative services are available in Alabama.

Family Court judges from Huntsville and Birmingham said they are
forced to send children to far-away programs or lock them in juvenile
jails run by the Department of Youth Services because there are not
enough local treatment options.

"We're forcing our state juvenile justice system to deal with a
problem they shouldn't have to deal with," said Randy Johnson, deputy
court administrator for Jefferson County Family Court, referring to
drug- addicted youth.

Madison County Family Court Judge Lynn Sherrod said she must send some
children to Tennessee, away from their parents, for drug treatment.
"We have zero, zip, zilch," she said.

Officials also discussed expanding drug courts to include treatment
for families, and children with mental health problems. States need a
holistic approach to dealing with these families, officials said.

Meanwhile, government funding for DARE continues to drop, although
numerous Alabama school systems still use the program.

"We have gotten guidance from the federal government that we should
not be funding DARE," said Kris Vilamaa, program manager for law
enforcement and traffic safety at ADECA.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to spend money only on
programs that have been proved by rigorous research to be effective,
he said. DARE is in the process of revising its curriculum, but it has
not been given the federal stamp of approval yet, Vilamaa said.

Numerous metro area school systems, including Birmingham and Jefferson
County, continue to use DARE.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department received a $25,000 grant to
help fund eight school resource officers who teach the program in 27
schools, said Capt. Jennifer Kimble.

Birmingham Police employ six officers who teach DARE, and the
Birmingham City Schools spent $28,000 on DARE T-shirts and graduation
ceremonies, money from a state grant, said spokeswoman Michaelle Chapman.

No one from ADECA or the Alabama Department of Education on Friday
could provide recent figures for statewide spending on DARE.

Sloan at UAB said he's seen estimates ranging from $200,000 to
$500,000 a year. "Let's take that $250,000 and maybe buy our kids
textbooks," he said.