KEEP DRUG PREVENTION REAL

Re: Patricia Kochel's March 2 commentary, "Drug education should begin at
home":

Ms. Kochel's commentary offered excellent advice on preventing adolescent
drug use. The importance of parental involvement in reducing drug use
cannot be overstated. School-based extracurricular activities also have
been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours they're
most likely to get into trouble.

In order for drug prevention efforts to reduce drug-related harm, they must
be reality-based. The most popular drug and the one most closely associated
with violent behavior is often overlooked by parents. That drug is alcohol,
and it takes far more lives each year than all illegal drugs combined.
Alcohol may be legal, but it's still the No. 1 drug problem.

For decades, school-based drug prevention efforts have been dominated by
sensationalist programs such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Good
intentions are no substitute for effective drug education. Independent
evaluations of D.A.R.E. have found the program to be either ineffective or
counterproductive. The scare tactics used do more harm than good. Students
who realize they've been lied to about marijuana often make the mistake of
assuming that harder drugs such as methamphetamine are relatively harmless
as well. This is a recipe for disaster.

Drug-prevention programs must be reality-based, or they may backfire when
kids are inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers.

A 2003 General Accounting Office overview of D.A.R.E. can be found at:
www.gao.gov/new.items/d03172r.pdf.

Robert Sharpe, MPA, Program officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Arlington, Va.