RESULTS LAG IN SCHOOL DRUG FIGHT

A Study Shows The Top 3 Programs Are Not Doing Enough To Keep Kids Away
From Drugs

WASHINGTON - The top three programs used by schools to keep students away
from drugs are either ineffective or haven't been sufficiently tested, new
research suggests.

In a study being published today in Health Education Research, a journal
for educators, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill say many schools are using popular programs such as D.A.R.E., Here's
Looking at You 2000 and McGruff's Drug Prevention and Child Protection,
which haven't shown the kind of results that schools should expect, despite
years of use.

"It's not a very good use of taxpayer money," said Denise Hallfors, now a
substance abuse prevention researcher at the Pacific Institute for Research
and Evaluation, a nonprofit group. She was at the University of North
Carolina when she conducted the research.

The study found that, in spite of a decade of efforts from the federal
government to promote proven programs, many schools still use "heavily
marketed curricula that have not been evaluated, have been evaluated
inadequately or have been shown to be ineffective in reducing substance abuse."

The most popular, D.A.R.E., Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was created by
police officers in Los Angeles in 1983 to teach children about the dangers
of drugs. More than 50,000 officers have been trained nationwide and the
program is being implemented in 80 percent of school districts. In response
to criticism that its program is ineffective, D.A.R.E America is conducting
a five-year study to evaluate a new curriculum.

Charlie Parsons, executive director of D.A.R.E. America, said the research
in Hallfors' study refers to D.A.R.E.'s old curriculum, which is no longer
used.

He also noted that D.A.R.E. officers get two weeks of training, unlike many
other programs.

"The strength of D.A.R.E. is that the implementation and the fidelity
always gets high marks, because of the training involved," he said.

Hallfors' study, which polled 104 school districts in 11 states and the
District of Columbia, showed that many schools are using research-based
programs, but that they often don't train teachers adequately or don't use
all the materials available. Only one in three school districts used the
programs effectively, the study showed.

She also said federal funding for such programs -- about $5 per child
annually -- isn't enough, since school districts should hire a full-time
coordinator.

"If you're getting $4,000 a year, you're not able to hire that person,"
Hallfors said.

Other researchers have found that illegal drug use among teenagers has
remained level or decreased over the past several years.