Pubdate: Wed, 10 Oct 2001
Source: Dispatch, The (NC)
Copyright: 2001, The Lexington Dispatch
Contact:  http://www.the-dispatch.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1583
Author: Robert Sharpe
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1732/a04.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)

DARE SCARE TACTICS

Editor: Annette Varner's Oct. 2 letter to the editor on the Drug Abuse 
Resistance Education program raised some very important points. The 
importance of parental involvement in preventing drug use cannot be 
understated. Student involvement in extracurricular activities has also 
been shown to reduce drug use.

As for the DARE program, good intentions are no substitute for effective 
anti-drug education. Every independent, methodologically sound evaluation 
of DARE has found the program to be either ineffective or 
counterproductive. The scare tactics DARE uses do more harm than good. 
Students who realize they are being lied to about marijuana often make the 
mistake of assuming that harder drugs are relatively harmless as well. This 
is a recipe for disaster. After almost two decades of DARE, heroin use 
among high school seniors in the U.S. has reached record levels. Anti-drug 
education programs need to be reality-based or they may backfire when kids 
are inevitably exposed to drug use among their peers. To verify record 
levels of heroin use, please visit the Monitoring the Future site at: 
http://www.monitoringthefuture.org

Robert Sharpe

The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy Foundation Washington, D.C.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens