'CREDIBLE' EDUCATION PROGRAMS NEEDED

Dear Editor:

An Oct. 30 article in the Airdrie Echo contained excellent advice on
preventing adolescent drug use. The importance of parental involvement in
reducing drug use cannot be overstated.

School-based extracurricular activities have also been shown to reduce drug
use. They keep children busy during the hours they're most prone to getting
into trouble. In order for drug education to be effective it has to be
credible. The most popular recreational drug and the one most closely
associated with violent behaviour 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 number one drug problem.
For decades drug education has been dominated by sensationalist programs
such as Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE). While Canadian schools are
just beginning to implement DARE, schools in the U.S. are dropping it.
Every independent, methodologically sound evaluation of DARE has found the
program to be either ineffective or counterproductive.

The scare tactics used do more harm than good. Students who realize they
are being lied to about marijuana often make the mistake of assuming that
such harder drugs as heroin are relatively harmless as well. This is a
recipe for disaster.

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

Robert Sharpe, MPA, Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.