CLINTON TOWNSHIP DECIDES TO DROP POPULAR DRUG EDUCATION PROGRAM

CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) -- This Macomb County community is
joining several others in dumping DARE -- the national Drug Abuse
Resistance Education program.

Police Chief Al Ernst said he hopes to develop other programs that are
similar to DARE for students in the suburb about 20 miles northeast of
Detroit.

"We just don't have the personnel available to stay with this
particular program," Ernst told The Macomb Daily of Mount Clemens for
a report Wednesday. "The biggest problem is, you're locked into a
16-week curriculum with DARE, and that's too long for us."

Clinton Township has one full-time DARE officer and three others who
serve as part-time DARE officers. They will be transferred to other
duties at the end of the school year.

The DARE program is in 80 percent of American schools and is taught in
fifth- and some sixth-grade classes by police officers for a
four-month period.

Reports, however, including one by the U.S. Justice Department, say
the program may not be working as well as supporters claim and is
merely a "feel-good" vehicle.

A six-year study by the University of Illinois-Chicago showed the
money spent on the nationwide program has done little to stop students
from experimenting with drugs.

In 1997, UCLA researchers reported the DARE program does little to
deter teens from using alcohol, cigarettes or marijuana. The study,
however, found high school boys who had gone through the program used
less of harder drugs such as amphetamines, cocaine and LSD than did
other students.

Center Line Public Safety Director Adam Garcia said he has done away
with DARE for reasons similar to Clinton Township.

Center Line and Clinton Township are considering Smart Moves, a
program offered by the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

Other communities that have opted out of DARE include Harper Woods and
Oxford. Bloomfield Hills allows elementary school principals to decide
whether to keep it.

DARE's core message is valuable and will be worked into a health
curriculum for students, said Nancy Rice, director of elementary
education for Chippewa Valley Schools in Clinton Township.

"It's very popular with students and parents, and I'm sorry to hear
the program may be dropped," Rice said.