D.A.R.E. TEACHING KIDS TO RESIST DRUGS & VIOLENCE

Editor;

For drug education to be effective it has to be credible.

Learning how to say no and dealing with different pressures and stress amid
contrived exercises within controlled environments is one thing; outside of
that environment is another matter entirely. Drug education programs must
be reality-based or they run the risk of backfiring when kids are
inevitably exposed to pressures, peer or otherwise.

Every independent evaluation of DARE has found the program to be either
ineffective or counterproductive. The 2001 report of the US Surgeon General
concluded that "[DARE's] popularity persists despite numerous well-designed
evaluations and metaanalyses that consistently show little or no deterrent
effect on substance use."

The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology concluded, "Our results
are consistent in documenting the absence of beneficial effects associated
with the DARE pro-gram. This was true whether the outcome consisted of
actual drug use or merely attitudes toward drug use. In addition, we
examined processes that are the focus of intervention and purportedly
mediate the impact of DARE (e.g., self-esteem and peer resistance), and
these also failed to differentiate DARE participants from nonparticipants.
Thus, consistent with the earlier Clayton et al. (1996) study, there appear
to be no reliable short-term, long-positive outcomes associated with
receiving DARE intervention."

Wayne Phillips Hamilton, ON

Source: Lynam, Donald R., Milich, Richard, et al., "Pro-ject DARE: No
Effects at 10-Year Follow-Up", Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, August
1999), Vol. 67, No. 4, 590-593.