ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM VALUABLE

Re: The news article "New Programs Aim to Educate Students About Dangers"
[March 4, page ]. I know you only print the information provided to you
from the people who started the program.

I think you need to know the information was misleading and some of it was
false as it relates to the DARE program: The Drug Abuse Resistance
Education program is one of the most effective drug-education programs
available today.

DARE is in 80 percent of all elementary schools in the United States. The
DARE program does not rely on a "just-say-no" message. DARE was one of the
first drug programs to use cooperative learning as a means to teach
students "how to say no" through role playing, skits and group discussion.
DARE has gone farther than how to say no, it teaches about peer pressure,
self-esteem building, conflict resolution and avoiding violence. Polk
County does not have a strong DARE Program. It is only taught in some city
schools. State drug-prevention officials should not be baffled by the
findings of the 2000 survey.

Broward, Miami-Dade, Orange, Osceola and Hardee had a lower drug-use score
than Polk County. All those counties have a strong DARE Program in
elementary and middle school.

To me one program is as good as another, but don't tear down one program to
build up another.

The children are the main point, and keeping them drug-free should be the
focus.

DALE CROSBY Vice President Florida DARE Officers Association Orlando

The Ledger is to be commended for its no-nonsense March 4 article on the
need to educate students about drugs ["New Programs Aim to Educate Students
About Drugs," page ]. The most popular drug and the one most often
associated with violent behavior is often overlooked in drug education.

That drug is alcohol, and it takes far more lives every year than all
illegal drugs combined.

Just because alcohol is legal doesn't mean it's not potentially dangerous.

And just because alcohol is potentially dangerous doesn't mean it should be
prohibited. America tried prohibiting alcohol during the early 1900s. Like
the modern-day drug war, Prohibition caused a great deal of societal harm,
while failing miserably at preventing use. Organized crime flourished and
children had easier access to alcohol than ever, once mobsters took over
the distribution. These days, liquor bootleggers no longer gun down each
other in drive-by shootings, nor do consumers go blind drinking unregulated
bathtub gin.

As for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, good intentions are no
substitute for effective drug 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 such
as heroin are relatively harmless.

This is a recipe for disaster.

Drug-education programs need to be reality-based, or they may backfire when
kids are inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers.

ROBERT SHARPE, M.P.A.

Program Officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington