DARE PROGRAM COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

I'm writing about your top story: "DARE students pledge to avoid
drugs" (5-03-05).

Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth
from using illegal drugs. But it doesn't. DARE graduates are more
likely to use illegal drugs--not less.

Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and
our solar system. But it's not.

Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially
reduce the use of the product that's prohibited. Actually, prohibition
tends to substantially increase the desire for the product that's prohibited.

Before marijuana was criminalized in the U. S. via the Marijuana Tax
Act of 1937, the vast majority of Americans had never heard of
marijuana. Now everybody in the U. S. knows what marijuana is and the
U. S. government estimates that at least 90 million Americans have
used it. About half of all high school students will use marijuana
before they graduate.

People want what they are told they cannot have--especially children.
The lure of the "forbidden fruit" is very powerful.

KIRK MUSE

Mesa, Ariz.