D.A.R.E. PROGRAM FAILS TO DETER DRUG USE

I didn't see David Schmidt's letter June 10 in opposition to D.A.R.E., but
I did see Sheriff Manning's response June 16. For folks who are interested
in the real deal on D.A.R.E., I suggest you go to drcnet.org/DARE and see
the proof for yourself. D.A.R.E. not only does not work, not only is a
criminal waste of tax payer dollars, but some evidence suggests it is
actually counterproductive.

Studies done here in North Carolina (most notably at the Research Triangle
Institute) have shown the D.A.R.E. students are more likely to use drugs
than their non-D.A.R.E. educated peers.

These studies have caused Fayetteville, N.C. and other cities across the
U.S. to end their D.A.R.E. programs.

Over $230 million is spent every year on D.A.R.E., despite the fact that
the U.S. General Accounting Office reported, "There is little evidence so
far that [D.A.R.E. and other 'resistance training' programs] have reduced
the use of drugs by adolescents."

As to the asset forfeiture Sheriff Manning lauds in his letter, it is a
fact that in the U.S., over 80 percent of forfeited assets are seized from
persons who have never even been charged in total violation of the Fifth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: "No person shall be deprived of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private
property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

The sheriff is supposed to protect the rights of citizens of Pitt County,
not violate them in the name of funding programs that are actively
counterproductive and serve only as political pork.

CHRISTOPHER RUFF

Greenville