LOOKING FOR HARD DATA ON DARE

Local program recomended for national study in hopes to determine
effectiveness

Fort Saskatchewan Record - The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE)
program in Fort Saskatchewan is recommended by RCMP to be the focus of
a national study that hopes to determine the effectiveness of the program.

"This is extremely significant-the one thing that has been needed
with this program, or any program over time, is an evaluation to study
its effectiveness," said Sgt. Ian Sanderson, Drug Awareness
Coordinator at 'K' Division.

He said prevention programs, like DARE, are very difficult to assess,
and measure. "The one thing that we do know, is that it has to be
reinforced along the way," said Sanderson. "It just can't be sort of a
one shot wonder at a particular grade level-and that's what has
attracted us to the Fort Saskatchewan DARE program-it has led the way,
not only in the province, but in the country, in implementing all the
levels of the program within its school system."

For more than five years the Fort DARE program has stuck with teaching
students at the elementary, junior high, and high school level, while
others have remained strictly within the elementary sector.

Sanderson said he can't speak for the Ontario police force, but as far
the RCMP goes, the Fort Detachment is one of the only ones that
extends the lessons to all three levels.

The evaluation will be headed by academics from across Canada, as well
as a representative from the World Health Organization, and a
professor named Dr. Zilly Sloboda from the University of Akron in Ohio.

Sloboda researched the program in the United States.

On an American station called WBZ Radio, he said the program has been
criticized in the past, because there hasn't been enough follow
through with it.

When 'K' Division was asked by headquarters in Ottawa to recommend
detachments to be looked at in the national review, which is currently
being developed, they recommended the Fort because they exemplify the
entire program, said Sanderson.

"So if you're going to look at the entire program, then you're best to
look at it in a place where its been implemented to its fullest
potential," he said.

The evaluation has been in the works for awhile, but up until now they
haven't met to pull a team together. The RCMP took it one has an
initiative over the summer.

"This study will give us some answers," said Const. Helen Meinzinger,
who coordinates the program in the Fort, and is also certified to
instruct officers on how to teach the course.

"We've never had any numbers on effectiveness before," she
said.

Often any criticism for the DARE program is based on a lack of
numbers, and Meinzinger says this study will hopefully address that
situation.

She said success for her classes is currently gauged by the amount of
student comments na dquestions, to which she claims are always in abundance.

"I'm a strong believer that anytime you're giving kids knowledge it's
a good thing," said Mienzinger. "There's no fear factor to what is
taught. We work on clarifying the myths and misconceptions."

She said she can't make the decision to use drugs for them, but she
can encourage them to not make the wrong choice by providing
information for them. "People want to ensure they're getting the
biggest bang for their buck, these days," Sanderson said.

The methods the study will use to assess DARE is not known at this
time, he said.

Whether Fort Saskatchewan will be the chosen for the national study,
with international participation is expected to be known by the end of
the month.