D.A.R.E. PROGRAM MODEL IS UNREALISTIC

Re: "Dare to look elsewhere for savings," (editorial, July 13).

Independent evaluations of Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.)
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 cocaine 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 most popular recreational drug and the one most closely
associated with violent behavior, alcohol, is often overlooked. 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

www.csdp.org