STUDY SAYS DARE, SIMILAR PROGRAMS ARE INEFFECTIVE

WASHINGTON -- The top three programs used by schools to keep students away
from drugs are either ineffective or haven't been sufficiently tested, new
research suggests.

In a study published Saturday in Health Education Research, a journal for
educators, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
say many schools are using popular programs such as DARE, Here's Looking at
You 2000 and McGruff's Drug Prevention and Child Protection, which haven't
shown the kind of results that schools should expect, despite years of use.

"It's not a very good use of taxpayer money," said Denise Hallfors, a
substance abuse prevention researcher at the Pacific Institute for Research
and Evaluation, a nonprofit group. She was at the University of North
Carolina when she conducted the research.

The study found that, in spite of a decade of efforts from the federal
government to promote proven programs, many schools still use "heavily
marketed curricula that have not been evaluated, have been evaluated
inadequately or have been shown to be ineffective in reducing substance abuse."

The most popular, DARE, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was created by
police officers in Los Angeles in 1983 to teach children about the dangers
of drugs. More than 50,000 officers have been trained nationwide, and the
program is being implemented in 80 percent of school districts. In response
to criticism that its program is ineffective, DARE America is conducting a
five-year study to evaluate a new curriculum.

Charlie Parsons, executive director of DARE America, said the research in
Hallfors' study refers to DARE's old curriculum, which is no longer used.

He also noted that DARE officers get two weeks of training, unlike many
other programs, which are run by for-profit organizations.