Lawyers in DARE Libel Suit to Question Writer

Lawyers for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, an anti-drug organization based in Culver City, say they’ll drop a $10-million libel complaint against journalist Stephen Glass if he explains how he fabricated quotes and sources for articles that accused DARE of intimidation.

According to a tentative settlement contained in federal court records in Los Angeles, Glass will sit through an interview with DARE lawyers in Century City on Jan. 5 to “answer questions about the origins, preparation and editing of his work on DARE,” published in the New Republic and Rolling Stone.

Skip Miller, an attorney representing DARE, said Glass’ interview could lead to additional civil claims against the publications. He said the tentative settlement with Glass also includes a “monetary component,” which he wouldn’t specify.

Lawyers for DARE and Glass are to meet with a federal judge Feb. 11 to discuss whether DARE was satisfied with the interview.

“We’re looking forward to sitting down with Mr. Glass,” Miller said. “We’re looking forward to getting a lot of details.”

Glass could not be reached for comment. His attorney, Gerson Zweifach of Washington, D.C., did not return calls.

Glass’ career as a journalist was interrupted earlier this year by revelations that sources quoted in many of his articles didn’t exist. Editors at the New Republic acknowledged that there was fabricated material in at least 23 of the articles by Glass that they printed over a 15-month span. The magazine had listed Glass as an associate editor.

Among the nonexistent sources, the editors said, were people whom Glass claimed had been strong-armed by DARE representatives around the country.

Glass published a similar story in Rolling Stone a year later. Editors there defended the piece as “based on verifiable reporting,” but acknowledged that it too contained fabricated details.

DARE was formed in 1983 by Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates and other law-enforcement officials to find new methods of steering youths away from drug abuse. Despite wide popularity, the program has had its detractors, including parents who say DARE encouraged their kids to turn them into police.