MOST POPULAR DRUG IS OFTEN OVERLOOKED

Re: Loss of police liaison officer will hurt the youth in school system
(Alberni Valley Times, Jan. 22)

Good intentions are no substitute for effective drug education.
Independent evaluations of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) have
found the program to be ineffective or counterproductive.

DARE's scare tactics do more harm than good. Students who realize
they've been lied to about marijuana may make the mistake of assuming
that harder drugs like methamphetamine are relatively harmless as
well. This is a recipe for disaster.

Drug education programs must be reality-based or they may backfire
when kids are inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers.

The importance of parental involvement in reducing adolescent drug use
cannot be overstated. School-based extracurricular activities also
have been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the
hours they're most likely to get into trouble.

In order for drug prevention efforts to effectively reduce harm, they
must be reality-based. The most popular drug and the one most closely
associated with violent behaviour is often overlooked. That drug is
alcohol, and it takes far more lives each year than all illegal drugs
combined.

Alcohol may be legal, but it's still the No. 1 drug
problem.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst, Common Sense for Drug Policy