DARE NOT WHAT IT'S CRACKED UP TO BE

Congratulations to the fifth-grade class of Summit Cove upon graduation
from DARE.

It is my sincere hope that indeed they're now equipped to make healthy
choices when it comes to tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.

Sadly however, the success rate for DARE is abysmal. Without exception,
every independent follow-up study on DARE graduates has shown no positive
result 10 years later when compared to their non-DARE peers.

The only place DARE has ever been able to consistently demonstrate success
is in marketing itself.

DARE is a feel-good program that allows parents, schools and communities to
feel they are doing something about the drug problem without having to do
anything.

A much more informative article would have been to examine the rates of
substance abuse of the Summit Cove fifth-grade class from 10 years ago, who
I presume also went through the DARE program.

If you had done that, in all likelihood there would have been no difference
between them and their non-DARE graduate peers. But I guess that wouldn't
compare to the warm, fuzzy puff piece you did go with.

Greg Francisco, Educators for Sensible Drug Policies, Paw Paw, Mich.