DRUG ABUSE

Dare To Reconsider

It is time to re-evaluate the popular D.A.R.E. drug prevention program.

The program began in Los Angeles in 1983. Uniformed police officers go to
fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms and attempt to teach students to resist
drug abuse. But studies consistently find that the program is not effective.

Donald R. Lynam and other researchers at the University of Kentucky say
D.A.R.E. resulted in some initial improvements in the students' attitudes
about drug use, but those changes failed to last, and did not influence the
decisions students made.

About 80 percent of U.S. school districts have the programs. But, in the
last few years, Seattle, Boulder, Louisville, Houston, Rochester, N.Y., and
others have dropped D.A.R.E.

In Jacksonville, 14 officers, including a supervisor, are assigned to
D.A.R.E. at a cost of about $800,000 a year.

The sheriff and School Board should re-examine the D.A.R.E. program.

Why tie up police officers who could be fighting crime and take students
away from studies if it accomplishes nothing?