GREAT IDEA, MIXED RESULTS

Even though the evidence suggested that the well-intended DARE program
wasn' t working, the Toledo Police Department was reluctant to give up on
its partnership with the program in the city's elementary schools.

Finally, though he didn't make the decision capriciously, Chief Michael
Navarre pulled the plug. Research and analysis kept coming back with the
same indications: DARE, for Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education, was not
meeting its noble goal of keeping young people off drugs.

So the chief informed officials at Toledo Public Schools, Washington Local
Schools, and parochial elementaries that he would not be able to assign
officers to their buildings again in the fall.

That's a shame, and he's the first to admit it. But arguments for DARE
began to crumble when the national organization, DARE America, said it
would overhaul its curriculum. Other communities and agencies bailed out,
including Salt Lake City, the Michigan State Police, and a county in
Washington.

The program failed in part because it only reached a third of the city's
elementary students. If the purpose was to help students learn to resist
peer pressure, it failed because two out of three students weren't even
hearing the message.

Even without DARE, drug-resistance instruction will continue in some form.
Toledo police will spearhead a program of their own in the coming school
year, one that will foster more interaction between police officers and
students.

That's important, especially at a time when teen drug and tobacco use in
Lucas County appears to be declining, according to the latest biennial
survey of the Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board of Lucas County.

Good news, yes, but the battle's far from won.