3 ANTI-DRUG PROGRAMS QUESTIONED

WASHINGTON -(AP)- The top three school anti-drug programs are ineffective or
haven't been tested sufficiently, new research suggests.

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 even though they
haven't shown the results that schools should expect.

The study is being published today in Health Education Research, a journal
for educators.

"It's not a very good use of taxpayer money," said Denise Hallfors, a
substance abuse prevention researcher at the Pacific Institute for Research
and Evaluation.

The study polled 104 school districts in 11 states and the District of
Columbia. Michigan was not among them.

It showed that many schools often don't train teachers adequately or use all
the available materials. Only one in three school districts used the
programs effectively.

The most popular program, D.A.R.E., Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was
created by police officers in Los Angeles in 1983. More than 50,000 officers
have been trained nationwide and it has been used in 80 percent of school
districts. In response to criticism that its program is ineffective, D.A.R.E
America is conducting a 5-year study to evaluate a new curriculum.