ADDRESSING DRUG ABUSE

The School Department is considering scaling back the DARE program. School
Committee Chairman Michael Faherty would consider dropping it altogether.

Faherty is on the right track. DARE does not fulfill its stated mission: to
reduce drug abuse among young people. The mission it does fulfill -- to
bring police officers and young people together -- is worthwhile but should
be reformatted.

DARE -- or Drug Abuse Resistance Education -- swept the nation about 10
years ago. Kiwanis Clubs and PTOs lined up to donate money, and police
officers competed for the opportunity to serve in the schools. DARE
officers were given cars and relatively large budgets. There was complete
media coverage of every DARE graduation ceremony.

Adults, especially suburban adults, loved it. The program seemed so simple:
If you just tell Johnny and Janie about how bad drugs are, they won't do
them. A few skits, a few classroom exercises, a T-shirt and bingo, the drug
problem is gone.

Slowly, a few studies began to show that drug abuse among teens and
pre-teens were not affected by DARE programs. This was, of course,
politically incorrect and so communities kept funding the DARE programs and
kept their fingers crossed.

In actuality, DARE programs are just the type of social engineering that
clutter up the school day and mask underlying issues. Schools don't cause
drug abuse and schools can't solve drug abuse. Young people who abuse drugs
may have family problems or may be clinically depressed or may face other
complex social problems, none of which can or should be addressed primarily
by teachers or police officers.

For young people with serious emotional problems, the DARE program is
useless -- just ask them. For young people who probably won't abuse drugs,
the DARE program provides a level of detail that is unnecessary and even
counterproductive.

Where the DARE program has been useful is in bringing police officers into
the schools. Young people can become less intimidated of authority if they
get to know their DARE officer, and individual young people have benefited
substantially from the role model these officers provide.

But let's not use drug abuse as a cover for building a relationship between
young people and police officers. Gloucester has successfully pursued
community policing grants that fund a regular police presence in the high
school and middle school, and this is both appropriate and honest.

If the community wants to fight drug abuse among teens, there are plenty of
avenues that are quantifiably more productive than the DARE program. The
YMCA Teen Center is an example. The Gloucester Prevention Network is
another. Make a donation to Artspace or Child Development Programs. Better
yet, volunteer your time -- as a youth coach, as a Scout leader, as a Big
Brother or Big Sister, as a tutor. The time and money spent on the DARE
program could be better used elsewhere.