D.A.R.E. TO KEEP THE MESSAGE COMING

Every now and then we hear of some study saying that the Drug Abuse
Resistance Education program isn't working. The nation's youths are still
experimenting with drugs and sometimes getting hooked with tragic consequences.

A look at any police blotter is evidence the drug trade is still active.
Authorities have long said drugs are the impetus for most crime.

Drugs are still around nearly 20 years after the 17-week D.A.R.E. program
was started in Los Angeles in 1983. So if this is the yardstick by which we
measure the program's effectiveness, then we suppose there are those around
who would say it's a dismal failure.

But what if there had been no D.A.R.E.? There is no way to measure how many
youngsters never smoked their first joint, smoked their first rock of crack
or drank themselves comatose because they remembered the lessons they
learned in D.A.R.E.

But these are things we do know: D.A.R.E. may be the first and only
positive contact some children have with a police officer. It may be the
first time they are in an environment where they can talk about peer
pressure and any other thing that may be eating at them without fear of
reprisal. That time may never come again.

For now, we call on educators and on government officials who control the
purse strings to D.A.R.E. to keep the message coming.