D.A.R.E. SHOULD BE SCALED BACK

Kudos to Police Chief Louis Kealoha ("It is possible to scale back in
tight times," Star-Bulletin editorial, Dec. 11)! He is brave to admit
something that has been known for a decade or so: that D.A.R.E. (the
Drug Abuse Resistance Program) does not accomplish what it set out to
do. Although D.A.R.E. was entertaining and exciting, prevention
programs must do more than engage children with lights and action;
they must result in a long-term resistance to drug use.

There are many prevention programs that have been evaluated and proven
effective. These are the programs that should be used in our schools.
They should be taught by those best suited to the classroom, trained
educators.

We encourage the state Board of Education to follow Chief Kealoha's
lead and set policy that requires prevention programs to be
evidence-based so that scarce resources are not wasted.

Jeanne Y. Ohta

Executive director, Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii