COUNT THE LIVES, NOT COSTS

Regarding the Page One article in the Aug. 27 Chronicle, "Study questions
DARE program; It's `only marginally successful' in steering youth from drug
abuse": I am concerned about the term `marginally successful,' which
reminds me how easily we assign a monetary value to the soul of man. Yet
how much would we give to preserve our own? Assuming for a moment that just
one person would be saved by the DARE program and that that one person
would not be an example to the community and save others, we would still be
better off with the DARE program than without it.

Sooner or later, the destiny of drug abusers will be the penal system. For
the sake of an example, leaving out the family disruption and the severe
emotional toll, let's just look at the money.

How much would it cost to incarcerate a drug abuser? Back in the 1980s, it
cost the taxpayer $30,000 for the first year and $25,000 for each
subsequent year, and we all know rehabilitation does not occur in the penal
system.

If only 10 people are spared a life of drug abuse or incarceration via the
DARE program per year, that would offset the $3.7 million mentioned in the
article.

I am appalled that anyone would even consider minimizing the potential of
DARE. Life should be valued as a result of the life lived -- not the amount
of money spent.

Gil Gray, Katy

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson