DISAPPOINTING FINDINGS FORCE A RECONSIDERATION OF D.A.R.E.

Yet another study has called into question the effectiveness of the
anti-drug education program D.A.R.E., which is conducted in 80 percent
of the schools in America. Donald R. Lynam and other researchers at
the University of Kentucky tracked 1,000 students in one county who
participated in D.A.R.E. in the sixth grade.

It tracked them down at age 20, or 10 years later, and found that
while D.A.R.E. had made some initial impression about their attitudes
toward drugs, it ultimately had no influence on the decisions they
eventually made. Their rates of drug use were no different from those
of other students.

Dr. Lynam suggested that perhaps D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance
Education) over-emphasizes peer pressure at the expense of other
influences such as curiosity or thrill-seeking )which some D.A.R.E.
critics accuse D.A.R.E. of actually encouraging).

In any event, Dr. Lynam's research supports the decisions of many
cities to drop D.A.R.E. as an ineffective strategy, and move on.

Move on to what? That's the retort from D.A.R.E. supporters, who
rightly point out that there isn't much else out there to replace it.
Of course, that could be because D.A.R.E. has a lock on the market, if
only because it appeals on so many levels.

Eventually, though, it won't pay to pursue a strategy that doesn't
work, even if it doesn't hurt, because if we are going to combat drug
abuse we are going to have to be hard-headed about whether our tools
are working.

After years of D.A.R.E., the evidence is accumulating that it doesn't
perform as advertised. That comes as a threat to those who advocate it
and who pour their hearts and their time into it, but a consensus is
building against it.

We criticize other well-intentioned educational methods as being
counterproductive when they don't deliver the goods, such as higher
math or reading scores.

There is no reason that D.A.R.E. should not be subjected to the same
scrutiny.

Thinking it works is not, as we are seeing, the same as
knowing.