DRUG EDUCATION SHOULD BE REALITY-BASED

Editor, The Times:

Regarding your March 17 editorial [Survey says booze, pot trump meth],
the importance of parental involvement in reducing adolescent drug use
cannot be overstated.

School-based extracurricular activities also have been shown to reduce
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
by parents.

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. For decades, school-based drug prevention efforts have
been dominated by sensationalist programs like Drug Abuse Resistance
Education.

Good intentions are no substitute for effective drug education.
Independent evaluations of DARE have found the program to be either
ineffective or counterproductive. The scare tactics used 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.

Robert Sharpe,

Arlington, VA