D.A.R.E. under fire:

Program Is No Cure-all, Officials Say, But It Helps With Drug Fight

TWIN FALLS -- Whether it's showing sixth-grade students his patrol car or
letting himself get chewed by a police dog, Twin Falls police officer Jeff
Sklar tries hard to grab his D.A.R.E. students' attention.

Once he has that, he said, he can work in the lessons of responsibility,
decision-making, self-esteem and, of course, drug education that make up
the curriculum of Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

"I give them the facts," Sklar said. "I give them the truth. ... I try to
prepare them for things they're probably going to see in junior high and
high school."

When the 17-week course ends, the new D.A.R.E. graduates will join the
thousands of students who have gone through D.A.R.E. since its arrival in
the Magic Valley schools in 1991. Some graduates became addicts, many
stayed straight, and what effect D.A.R.E. has had remains fodder for
national debate.

Local law officers and others believe the program works -- to a point --
and they agree that without a long-term program, the message that Sklar
works so hard to instill will fade away.

D.A.R.E. Under Fire

For most of its 16-year existence, D.A.R.E. has had critics. It also has
been the subject of scientific studies that say the program isn't effective.

One recently published study by University of Kentucky researcher Dr.
Donald R. Lynam concluded that D.A.R.E. has no effect on drug use later in
life.

The study tracked 1,000 Midwestern students who were in sixth-grade
D.A.R.E. Researchers re-evaluated the group 10 years later and found
students who went through D.A.R.E. were no more or less likely to use drugs
than students who didn't go through D.A.R.E.

"Some youth will use drugs and this will likely affect their lives in
negative ways," Lynam said in a news release. "We should try to do
something for these youth, but D.A.R.E. is probably not the thing to do."

Other studies, such as one at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, found
D.A.R.E. is a positive effort to educate students about the consequences of
drug and alcohol use. The study also found a positive side effect in that
the program helps break barriers and form bonds between students and law
enforcement.

Preventive Measures

D.A.R.E.'s focus is keeping children from using drugs, a goal where success
is difficult to measure, said Twin Falls police Sgt. Don Hall, one of the
Magic Valley's first two D.A.R.E. officers.

Brent Cunningham, a drug counselor who works with about 350 children each
week, agreed.

"Who knows if it works?" Cunningham said. "How do you judge it? You'll
never know. All you'll know is the kids it didn't work for."

Cunningham believes it does work for some children, although there really
is no way to measure that. At the very least D.A.R.E. gives students
information and skills to avoid drugs and alcohol, and any program that
gets that message out is helpful, he said.

Twin Falls County Sheriff Wayne Tousley, whose office teaches D.A.R.E. in
schools throughout the county, said the program's success is defined by the
students it reaches.

"If the program saves one child from not going into drugs and alcohol, it's
a success," he said.

'Reader's Digest' education?

The biggest problem with the local D.A.R.E. program is that it's too short,
Cunningham said.

"D.A.R.E. is giving them the Reader's Digest form of drug education," he said.

A one-grade, 17-hour program isn't enough to keep the message in students'
minds, especially with all the competing and conflicting influences on
young people's lives, he said.

Cunningham thinks the message should start as early as kindergarten and
continue through high school, a model the Buhl school district has moved
closer to.

Buhl students get D.A.R.E. in elementary school, junior high and high
school, Tousley said.

The lessons are tailored to the different age groups, but the basic message
stays the same, he said.

Because D.A.R.E. is taught only in the sixth grade in Twin Falls, it isn't
as effective as it could be, Hall said.

He compares teaching drug education to teaching a child to cross the
street. Parents tell children over and over to look both ways before
crossing, not just once, he said.

That's because children forget, and without repetition they'll never learn,
he said.

"What's the key to any prevention program? Follow-up," Hall said. "Without
follow-up it's worthless."

A 'Piece Of The Puzzle'

D.A.R.E. is the oldest and most popular program of its type, but not the
only one. Programs such as Gang Resistance Education and Training and Life
Skills, which share some of D.A.R.E.'s message, have been used locally or
are being considered.

In the Twin Falls School District, every program is regularly evaluated for
its effectiveness, Superintendent Terrell Donicht said.

D.A.R.E. remains a popular program despite the studies that question its
effectiveness, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be replaced in the future,
he said.

Hall believes D.A.R.E. is the best program on the market.

"If we found a different program than D.A.R.E. that was more effective, ...
would we be opposed to it? No," Hall said. "But right now I don't know of
anything better."

Whether officers are teaching D.A.R.E. or some other program in the
schools, they remain only one part of the drug education message. Families,
teachers, friends and media all influence a child's mind, and it's up to
all of them to send the right message, Hall said.

"We're no better than any other group," he said. "We're just another piece
of the puzzle to try to help."

[sidebar]

D.A.R.E. HISTORY

In 1983 Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates conceived the idea of putting
officers in schools to teach drug awareness and education. With the
cooperation of the Los Angeles school district, Drug Abuse Resistance
Education was born.

It quickly spread through the country, making its way to the Magic Valley
in 1991.

With the help of a grant, two Twin Falls police officers began teaching
throughout Twin Falls County.

The Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office eventually started its own program,
now taught by the Twin Falls, Jerome, Blaine and Cassia county sheriff's
offices, and the Twin Falls Police Department.

Today D.A.R.E. is taught in 80 percent of school districts in the United
States, reaching about 26 million students.

[sidebar]

D.A.R.E. BY THE NUMBERS

In the Twin Falls School District, about 750 sixth-grade students go
through D.A.R.E. each school year. The program is taught by a Twin Falls
police officer, whose salary is paid with tax dollars.

The department will spend about $6,000 this budget year for
D.A.R.E.-related materials such as workbooks, T-shirts and rulers. Other
materials are paid for with donations from the community and the other
organizations.

The Twin Falls County Sheriff's Office teaches D.A.R.E. in Castleford,
Buhl, Filer, Kimberly, Hansen, Murtaugh and Hollister, reaching more than
1,500 students at all grade levels.

Until the office recently restructured its D.A.R.E. program, two deputies
worked full-time teaching D.A.R.E. They were paid through a combination of
tax and grant dollars. After the restructuring, however, four patrol
deputies share D.A.R.E. teaching duties by working the D.A.R.E. classes
into their regular shifts.

The sheriff's office spends about $4,000 on D.A.R.E.-related materials.