GOOD RIDDANCE TO DARE PROGRAM

The June 7 Thousand Oaks Acorn editorial said thanks to Thousand Oaks
for keeping DARE as long as it could.

While the editorial correctly identified DARE's problematic record,
it made a concluding assertion that is factually incorrect: "While
DARE wasn't a panacea, the city deserves credit for keeping it alive
when no other program was available" (italics mine).

Actually there are other, proven effective programs such as Safety
First (www.safety1st.org), which is a "reality based" approach using
science and peerreviewed current thinking regarding drugs, kids and
public policy.

DARE was an abysmal program with more than 18 different scientific
peer-reviewed studies showing its ineffectiveness and its flawed ideology.

Its puzzling support was largely ideological in spite of the facts
arrayed against it.

I'm relieved DARE is gone.

As a parent, I would much prefer Safety First as an eventual
higher-effectiveness, lower cost replacement.

Thank you, Thousand Oaks, for ending a bad program.

Christopher Page

Thousand Oaks