ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM PROMISING

WASHINGTON - An overhauled version of the much-criticized D.A.R.E.
anti-drug program shows promising results, researchers said.

The results of early trials suggested that lessons once reserved for
fifth-graders could be used someday for pupils throughout elementary and
high school.

Researchers found that seventh-graders in six cities who took part in the
new curriculum were more likely to find using drugs socially inappropriate
than a control group, were better at refusing drugs and had fewer
misconceptions about how many of their peers use drugs. They were also less
likely to say they would use inhalants.

"It shows us that the program is doing what it intended to do, and in a
very significant way," said Zili Sloboda of the Institute for Health and
Social Policy at the University of Akron.

The results were being released today by the university.

Sloboda, who led the study, said it's too early to tell if the new program
will have significant impact on drug use, but he hoped that a follow-up
program in high school will help children stay off drugs just as pressure
to use them begins in earnest.

"These kids are prepared now," she said. "Now we've got to reinforce that
when they enter the ninth grade."

Researchers studied about 15,500 seventh-graders, some of whom took part in
the new curriculum and others, in a control group, who didn't.

D.A.R.E., or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was created by police
officers in Los Angeles in 1983, to teach fifth-graders about the dangers
of drugs. The program has been implemented in 80 percent of school
districts, but over the past few years critics have said it doesn't work.

Other researchers have found that illegal drug use among teenagers has
remained level or decreased over the past several years, partly because
adults are warning students about drug use and encouraging kids to nurture
other interests.

The new D.A.R.E. curriculum will target students not only in fifth grade,
but in seventh and ninth grades as well. Teachers will also help teach
lessons, unlike the current program, which is taught largely by police
officers.