MAYOR TAKES HEAT FOR QUITTING D.A.R.E.

SALT LAKE CITY - For all the decisions Ross Anderson has made in his first
year as mayor of Salt Lake City, none has caused a bigger furor than his
termination of the city's involvement with the anti-drug program in public
schools known as DARE, claiming that it was ineffective and a poor
substitute for programs that he contends do more to discourage drug use.

Reaction was swift. While many residents applauded the decision, Anderson
was criticized by parents, teachers and politicians.

``I know this is a net political loss for me,'' Anderson said this week
about his decision to eliminate DARE - Drug Abuse Resistance Education -
after its 10-year association with Salt Lake City. ``But DARE is a complete
fraud on the American people and has actually done a lot of harm by
preventing the implementation of more effective programs.''

Founded 17 years ago in Los Angeles as a tool to discourage children from
using illegal drugs, tobacco and alcohol, DARE classes are now part of the
curricula in 10,000 school districts in the United States and at schools in
54 other countries.

Anderson has joined a small but growing number of elected officials who
argue that many of the nation's anti-drug strategies have been ineffective.

For his decision to end the drug program, in which police officers visit
classrooms an hour a week for 17 weeks at a cost to the city of $289,000 a
year, Anderson said he had been branded by his critics as ``soft on crime''
even though he has encouraged the selection of an alternative program.

Anderson said he based his decision on studies that showed children who had
been exposed to DARE were no less likely to use drugs later in life than
children who had not.