DARE DRUG PROGRAM CHALLENGED BY FEDS, STATE

One of the state's leading substance abuse authorities believes DARE
programs are on the way out of Alabama schools if they can't prove they are
effective.

DARE remains in DeKalb County and Fort Payne schools, along with many others
around the state, even though the federal government has advised systems to
drop the program.

Federal, state and local governments have poured millions of dollars over
the last decade into Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, a program
that puts police into elementary school classrooms to teach students the
dangers of drugs.

But federal and state spending on DARE already is on the way out, said Kent
Hunt, associate commissioner for substance abuse at the Alabama Department
of Mental Health and Mental Retardation.

"I see a movement away from that unless DARE can modify their curriculum and
get a stamp of approval as an evidence-based or science-based program, and
it's not there yet," Hunt said at a Friday meeting organized by the
University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to spend money only on programs
that can prove their effectiveness. DARE is revising its curriculum but
still has not received federal approval, said Kris Vilamaa, program manager
for law enforcement and traffic safety at the Alabama Department of Economic
and Community Affairs.

DeKalb County's leading educators disagree with Hunt, saying DARE is a great
avenue to reach fifth-graders about the dangers of drug abuse at a time when
they are soon to be confronted with those situations.

"It's a great program," DeKalb County superintendent Charles Warren said.

Most of the county system's DARE money comes from business or individual
donations, but a little comes from the state.

The Fort Payne City Council voted last year to fund another school resource
officer for the city system. Policeman Darrell Collins is stationed at Fort
Payne Middle School and serves as the systems DARE officer.

"Last year I got a chance to go to DARE graduation," Fort Payne
superintendent Jimmy Cunningham said. "It was great. It was an upbeat
program. It was all about decision making about the use of illegal drugs.

"I don't know how they are using it in other areas, but here I think it's a
very good program. I don't think you can do enough to educate kids on what
the use of illegal drugs can do to their future."

Judge Karen Freeman Wilson, executive director of the National Association
of Drug Court Professionals, attended the meeting and suggested courts
emphasizing rehabilitation for drug offenders, rather than prison time,
could help more people. DeKalb County has one of the 11 such drug courts in
Alabama.

"The utopia is for us to infuse the drug court philosophy and the way of
doing business into the criminal justice system," Freeman Wilson said.

* The Associated Press contributed to this story