DRUG ABUSE

The July 2nd editorial in the Naples Daily News contained excellent advice
on preventing adolescent drug use. The importance of parental involvement
in reducing drug use cannot be overstated. School-based extracurricular
activities have also been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy
during the hours they're most prone to getting into trouble. In order for
anti-drug education to be effective it has to be credible. The most popular
recreational drug and the one most closely associated with violent behavior
is often overlooked by parents. That drug is alcohol, and it takes far more
lives every year than all illegal drugs combined. Alcohol may be legal, but
it's still the No. 1 drug problem. For decades anti-drug education has been
dominated by sensationalist programs like Drug Abuse Resistance Education.
Good intentions are no substitute for effective education.

Every independent, methodologically sound evaluation of DARE has found the
program to be either ineffective or counterproductive. The scare tactics
used do more harm than good. Students who realize they are being lied to
about marijuana often make the mistake of assuming that harder drugs like
heroin are relatively harmless as well. This is a recipe for disaster. Drug
education programs must be reality-based or they may backfire when kids are
inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers.

Robert Sharpe, program officer, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.