DARE MAY PUT STUDENTS AT RISK

Not only does Drug Abuse Resistance Education not work, but it could
be putting students at greater risk for drug use ["Dare to end the
DARE program," Editorial, Dec. 6].

Independent evaluations of DARE 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
may make the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like cocaine and
heroin are relatively harmless as well.

This is a recipe for disaster. Drug education programs must be
reality-based, or they may backfire when kids are inevitably exposed
to drug use among their peers.

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. For drug education to
effectively reduce harm, it has to be credible.

The most popular recreational drug and the one most closely
associated with violent behavior is often overlooked. 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.

Robert Sharpe

Editor's note: The writer is policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy.

Washington, D.C.