GIVE UP ON DARE

There is a push to rework the DARE program because there are several
very credible studies that indicate DARE does not work and, in many
cases, encourages drug experimentation and drug use by youth.

The surgeon general of the United States and the head of the National
Institute on Drug Abuse have looked at the data, and both have stated
DARE doesn't work.

Dennis Rosenbaum, head of the Criminal Justice Department for the
University of Illinois, found in a six-year study that DARE kids used
the same amount of drugs as non-DARE kids. Over $220 million a year
is spent on DARE programs funded primarily through municipal taxes
and donations.

Isn't it about time we had a wake-up call and pull the plug on DARE?

I applaud Loves Park police Chief Pat Carrigan. It might be a
budgetary issue but, realistically, officers used for DARE can better
be utilized elsewhere within their departments.

- -- Ron Harper, Roscoe