D. A. R. E. WON'T WORK

Dear Sir:

I'm writing about Robert Sharpe's outstanding letter, "Say no to DARE,"
published Feb. 18, 2004.

Common sense tells us that the DARE (Drug and Alcohol Resistance
Education) 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 76 million Americans have
used it. About half of all high school students will us it before they
graduate.

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

No other nation on the planet has spent more of its resources fighting
drug abuse nor arrested more of its citizens for drug law violations
than the United States. Yet no other nation has been less successful
in solving its drug abuse problems than the U. S.

The United States government is in no position to give any other
nation advice on how to run an anti-drugs campaign. DARE is a product
of the failed U. S. drug policy. My advice to Canada is to carefully
observe U. S. drug policy - then do the opposite.

Don't follow us - we're lost.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, Arizona