SEEING THROUGH THE RED RIBBONS

Studies Show School-Based Drug Education Programs Are
Well-Intentioned -- but Highly Ineffective

VICTORVILLE -- Drive by a school in the fall and you're bound to see
little red ribbons tied to the fence, carefully placed there by
students also wearing red.

Since 1988, schools across the country have devoted one week in
autumn to the Red Ribbon program -- the most farreaching and
well-known drug prevention event in America.

"I think red ribbon week is a wonderful thing that should be
encouraged worldwide to help make the world be drug free," 13-year
old Juan Lopez of Victorville said.

There's no doubt the program is popular. But several studies,
teachers and even students say that while Red Ribbon week is
well-intentioned, it's highly ineffective in combating drug use.

At 13-year-old Ross Kelsey's school, students were asked to sign a
contract promising to stay drug free. He signed the paper but said
about 50 percent of his middle school peers did not.

"I don't feel that Red Ribbon Week has any great influence over the
aspects of drug use. Though the initiative is a good idea, I doubt it
has any actual effect on how most people think," Kelsey said.

It would likely be career suicide in this politically correct world
for teachers to speak out publicly against a program that is said to
educate students about the dangers of drugs. But off the record, some
teachers have called the program a "weeklong nuisance," a "disruption
of class time" and said their students see it as nothing more than a
way to spend time "goofing off" rather than focusing on their school work.

Several older students who went through the program in elementary and
middle school also criticized it, stating that as they got older and
were confronted with the choice to try drugs or "just say no," what
they heard in school played no role in their decision-making.

In a recent study by the California Attorney General, 30 percent of
seventh-graders and 47 percent of ninth-graders surveyed said they
had alcohol in the past six months. Twenty--one percent of
11thgraders were defined as binge or heavy drinkers -- defined as
consuming five drinks in a row within the past 30 days -- and 22
percent of ninth-grade students admitted having smoked marijuana, the
study reported.

"At 16 when I was asked to do pot for the first time, the contract I
signed in middle school never entered my mind," Henry Neel of
Victorville said. "I don't advocate drug use, and I don't do drugs,
but I have tried some. I'm just saying that Red Ribbon week didn't
change my mind even a little bit."

Several studies echo the sentiments that one-size-fits-all lessons do
little to prepare kids for the real drug choices they're likely to face.

As students grow older, they become progressively more convinced that
drug-prevention programs are ineffective, according to a 1995 study
commissioned by the California Department of Education. In the
5,000-student, 240-school study, more than 40 percent of students
polled in a random sample told researchers their decision whether to
use intoxicants was influenced "not at all" by programs teaching
drugs' harmful effects and strategies for preventing use. The CDE
opted not to publish the $3 million report.

Another report conducted for the Justice Department by the
Durham-based Research Triangle Institute confirms that DARE appears
to have "a limited to essentially non-existent effect" on teen drug
use. The department also refused to publish the report, opting
instead to revise the program.

That's not to say these programs don't have their supporters.

Eleven years after these programs were scrutinized by negative
reports, they are still in full swing. With hundreds of millions of
tax dollars invested in these programs and schools reaping these
funds by utilizing them, it would seem they are here to stay.

There are teachers who are thankful to have the program as a tool to
open up discussions on drug and alcohol dangers. And there are
students who feel it can make a difference.

"Joining Red Ribbon Week is one of the most important things a person
could do for their community. It influences kids not to use drugs,"
13-yearold Ana Escobar of Victorville said. "Red Ribbon Week is a
chance for kids to meet new friends that don't think drugs are cool
and that show support on being drug free."