DARE TO DO BETTER

DARE to do better As Karen Auge reported in Monday's Post, a number
of Colorado cities have dropped the Drug Abuse Resistance Education
program because they doubt its effectiveness. Yet, the dropouts have
been more than offset by other communities joining the program,
according to Russ Ahrens, director of the state DARE effort.

The Post believes that any government program, DARE included, can
benefit from constructive criticism. But we have a simple challenge
for DARE's critics: If you think you can do better, let's see your
program.

Fortunately, some critics have already met that challenge. Last year,
Delbert Elliott and other researchers at the University of Colorado's
Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence reviewed 400 programs
aimed at reducing youth violence and drug use. They cited 10 such
programs - not including DARE - as "blue chip" programs worthy of emulation.

We welcome such efforts to more effectively warn young people about
the danger of illegal drugs. But we would strongly oppose any effort
to abandon drug education altogether.

There are essentially just three tools available to dam the tide of
drug abuse that has ruined so many lives in this country while
empowering a worldwide criminal empire: education, treatment and
incarceration. While all three have a role to play, it is obviously
much better - and more cost-effective - for society to head off
potential drug abuse through education than to struggle to cure
addicts who have already damaged their lives and health, sometimes
irreversibly, through drug abuse. Sending drug users to prison -
sometimes simply for selling enough drugs to support their own habits
- - is probably the least effective technique of all, though a necessary
one when violent crime is involved.

Fortunately, DARE officials themselves seem to be taking the criticism
to heart and working to improve their approach. In general, DARE is
becoming less lecture-oriented and more interactive, and some
programs have added segments about issues such as date rape and youth
violence. DARE officials themselves concede their program is more
effective if it can be carried into the junior high and high school
but complain that budget restraints keep them out of those vital arenas.

Again, whether the message is carried by DARE or alternative programs,
we believe drug education should be a vital part of the school
curriculum at all levels, not just elementary schools. Young minds
are too precious to waste - and preventing drug abuse through
education is far more effective than belatedly treating or
incarcerating those unfortunate youths who, tragically, have missed or
ignored that message.

Checked-by: derek rea