REPORT REVIEWS D.A.R.E. PROGRAM

ATLANTA - Georgia officials should take a hard look at the most popular
anti-drug abuse program in the schools to see whether it's worth funding, a
recent state audit says. Advocates for the D.A.R.E. program say curriculum
changes due by next fall will have the initiative on the right track.

The report, released by the Georgia Department of Audits and Accounts,
cites research showing that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has
no long-term effects on drug-abuse rates among young people. It points to
an audit of Arizona's D.A.R.E. program last year that found "virtually no
impact on students' drug-use behaviors."

The planned curriculum changes will allow more school districts to offer
the course to middle-school pupils, who are at the age that children tend
to start experimenting with drugs, said Garry Moore, of the Georgia Bureau
of Investigation, the special agent who oversees the state's D.A.R.E. program.