Taking a Fresh Look at DARE

Questions about the cost and effectiveness of the main anti-drug program taught in Orange County elementary and middle schools are prompting a reexamination of the curriculum.

Proponents of DARE, or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, say the large number of cities using the program across the country demonstrates support for having uniformed police enter the classroom and discuss the dangers of cocaine, alcohol and other drugs. But, in recent years, the decision of cities such as Seattle, Spokane and Oakland to drop DARE indicates that some officials are wondering if the lectures to schoolchildren do deter them from drugs.

Several Orange County school districts are taking fresh looks at the program, which is a good idea. There should be no rush to end DARE, but looking for possible supplemental programs to help it operate more effectively is warranted. A DARE spokesman said the program, which began in Los Angeles more than a decade ago, was never expected to solve America’s drug problem. Seventeen one-hour lessons in fifth grade are no match for the availability of drugs.

Parents need to supplement the no-drugs message in any program. Some educators say parents also need anti-drug programs of their own to help them discuss the issue with their children.

Garden Grove schools report that DARE is a good vehicle for the district to meet the state requirement that drug and alcohol awareness be taught in school.

But Buena Park dropped the program last year when the City Council said tough economic times meant it couldn’t justify paying city police to teach DARE. A committee in the Buena Park school district has developed a new program to teach drug and alcohol awareness to students in grades six through eight and hoped to cover much of the same material as DARE.

The federal and state governments are now requiring school districts to test the effectiveness of the anti-drug programs they sponsor. Several studies have concluded that DARE is ineffective by itself. But when coupled with peer counseling and training of teachers, judges and other adults to identify problems that may lead to substance abuse, the program works better.

Although it is difficult to measure whether lessons taught in fifth grade have an abiding effect on an adult, especially in so elusive a field as drug use and abuse, anti-drug programs are important. They do deserve frequent testing of their effectiveness, difficult though that may be. Just saying no is not enough; explanations, counseling and effective role models can help get beyond mere preaching in the needed effort to steer youngsters away from drugs.