PATROL DROPS DARE TO SAVE MONEY

The move is a blow to the program, which tries to teach students to avoid
drug use.

The Iowa State Patrol has ended its involvement in DARE this school year,
leaving supporters of the drug-education program fearful other law
enforcement agencies will follow suit.

The Drug Awareness Resistance Education program cost too much and took
officers off the highways, patrol officials said.

The patrol will save $184,000 annually by dropping DARE. Six officers
taught the program and trained local law enforcement agencies on talking to
children about drugs.

Drug-education officers met with the patrol and other officials Friday to
decide who will take over DARE training starting next month. DARE leaders
plan to hire an officer part time to train other officers.

The patrol's exit is a blow for the program, which has nearly 140 law
enforcement agencies teach 40,000 students about the dangers of drugs each
year. The Iowa City and Council Bluffs school districts ended their DARE
programs earlier this year.

"We're trying to fight a good fight at the grass-roots level and say this
is a good program," said John Sheahan, president of the Iowa DARE
association and principal of Roland-Story Middle School. "I can't think of
a better way to introduce a police officer to children."

Sheahan said DARE leaders are aware of criticism that the program is not
effective.

"Nobody at the local, state or federal level has any statistics that it's
not working," he said. "Kids say DARE is a good thing. If we save five
kids, we've more than paid for it."

DARE, created in 1983 by Los Angeles police officers, is a 17-week program
led by police officers in schools. It aims to teach students to avoid using
tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, to raise self-esteem, and to resist peer
pressure.

The program entered Iowa classrooms in 1988. National studies, including
one by the University of Kentucky in 1999, challenge its effectiveness.

In Iowa, a DARE officer from Norwalk and another from Urbandale were
arrested separately on drug charges.

Some research backs the program. A 1998 study of 3,198 Ohio 11th- graders
found students who participated in DARE were less likely to use drugs.
Similar studies were conducted in Iowa by the Story County sheriff's office
and Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames and by Dubuque police, Sheahan said.

The Iowa Legislature approved the patrol's exit earlier this year. A House
appropriations committee cut the patrol's budget and most of DARE's $80,000
state allowance. The program gets money generated by a drunken-driving
surcharge distributed through counties, state officials said.

State Rep. Paul Bell, D-Newton, a police officer and DARE supporter, said
several lawmakers argued that DARE fails to keep youngsters off drugs.

Rep. Lance Horbach, R-Tama, chairman of the House Justice System
Appropriation Committee, said the move had more to do with getting more
troopers onto the highways.

Sheahan said DARE organizers hope their remaining state money pays for
workbooks, T-shirts, a state conference, newsletters and the officer's
part-time salary. When the patrol was involved, the state coordinator's
salary didn't come out of DARE's budget.

DARE leaders said they are optimistic the program will continue for years
in Iowa classrooms.

"I think the patrol's exit certainly didn't help us out, but DARE isn't
going to cease to exist because of it," Sheahan said. "We're not asking for
the world here. We just want to maintain the program we have."