Letter to Editors:
STATISTICS SHOW D.A.R.E. IS NOT ALWAYS SUCCESSFUL

On Dec. 9, Terry O'Neil's letter to the Times Union quoted the late Judge
Harris giving a glorious public endorsement to the D.A.R.E. (Drug Awareness
Resistance Education) program. I don't doubt the judge's sincerity, however
that praise came in 1989 before any statistics were available to validate
the program.

Now that four major studies on D.A.R.E. have raised questions about its
success, perhaps it's time to look for other approaches to drug education.
The most comprehensive evaluation on D.A.R.E. done by the Research Triangle
Institute concluded that its effect on reducing drug use was short-term and
that schools that used the D.A.R.E. curriculum had a higher rate of drug
use, particularly marijuana, than schools that didn't use D.A.R.E.

These alarming facts contradict the popular and pervasive image of D.A.R.E.
The Research Triangle Institute report was squelched by the U.S. Bureau of
Justice Department.

At a time when public education funds are scarce and closely monitored, the
failure of D.A.R.E. in reducing teenage drug use has been ignored as the
program's budget continues to multiply in our public schools.

William Aiken Jr.