ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM BETTER IN THEORY THAN IN PRACTICE

The effort to educate youngsters on the dangers of drugs is popular with
officials, but studies suggest it may hurt more than it helps

``Legislature, Governor Spend $1 Million to Increase Teenage Drug Use.''

That's not a headline you see every day. But that is what Governor Gray
Davis and the Legislature may have done in the new state budget they so
proudly passed.

At the request of the Davis administration, lawmakers included $1 million in
the budget for D.A.R.E., the program that uses police officers to instruct
school children about the evils of drugs and alcohol.

D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. It was started in 1983
by the Los Angeles Police Department and Los Angeles Unified School District
and has become the largest drug-education program in the world.

It uses uniformed police officers in classrooms to focus on pupils in fifth
and sixth grade -- when youngsters are considered receptive to anti-drug
messages as they approach the age they are at risk of beginning to use them.

D.A.R.E. is already taught in 70 percent of the nation's school districts,
and in 44 other countries. Although the program is extraordinarily popular,
research shows that it is ineffective. But when it comes to throwing money
at police, politicians like Davis have little self-restraint.

``Implementation of this program will result in additional children becoming
aware of the dangers associated with drug use and provide them with positive
alternatives to choosing a drug-abuse lifestyle,'' the governor's Office of
Criminal Justice Planning said in its request to the Legislature for the
money in May.

``D.A.R.E. is designed to empower communities with effective prevention
strategies which will benefit the public at large, by reducing the number of
drug-related crimes and social consequences of drug abuse. As designed, the
program will positively affect approximately 8,000 school-age children,''
the administration said.

The governor's enthusiasm grew out of a meeting last year with D.A.R.E.
officers in San Diego. After a long discussion about criticisms of D.A.R.E,
Davis became convinced that spending more money could help the program turn
around, says his press secretary, Michael Bustamante.

For the low, low price of $1 million, another 8,000 kids will be saved from
the scourge of drugs, the administration argues. That's $135 per kid, which
seems mighty expensive. Never mind, though, we're fighting crime here.

Or are we?

Numerous studies have shown D.A.R.E. simply does not work in the long run.
One recent academic study reports that D.A.R.E. pupils showed higher uses of
drugs and alcohol five years after taking the classes.

The University of Illinois at Chicago researcher reported last year that
suburban kids taking the program actually had higher levels of drug use than
suburban youngsters who were not exposed to D.A.R.E. The numbers were small,
but it is worth noting that suburban participation in D.A.R.E. increased
drug use 3 to 5 percentage points, depending on the kind of drug.

So by supporting D.A.R.E., urban Democrats, usually depicted by the GOP as
soft on crime, can export their crime to the suburbs -- often represented by
those law-and-order Republicans.

To explain the differences, the Illinois researchers noted that the cops
tended to stick around longer at city schools and make a better connection
with kids. In the 'burbs, the pupils seemed less impressed with the
officers' presentation, perhaps because the students had a higher level of
academic achievement, which made them less susceptible to the program's
teaching techniques.

There are other differences, too. Hispanic pupils tended to commit fewer
crimes when exposed to D.A.R.E., while suburban D.A.R.E. pupils tended to
commit more criminal offenses than their non- D.A.R.E. counterparts.

It was with all this in mind that members of the committee writing the final
version of the budget took out the funds for D.A.R.E. They had to replace
it, however, because the administration screamed in protest.

Lawmakers know there is a problem. Although drug use nationwide declined in
the 1980s, the percentage of high school seniors who said they had used
illegal drugs ``during the past year'' jumped from 22 percent in 1992 to 35
percent in 1995.

The problem with D.A.R.E. appears to be that it concentrates on youngsters
when they are not using drugs, and that the effects of the program disappear
by the time drugs have become available to them.

To cure that would mean a new program, sustained over many years, and
tailored to the students in question -- urban, rural and suburban; white,
black, Asian and Latino. Not just a cop showing up for a few hours in fifth
or sixth grade.

It would also require taking things a step farther than the easy symbolism
of a program that is popular with cops and provides a pleasing stage for
campaign-ready photographs. And that is not a headline we're likely to see
soon.