DARE program "increases drug use"

To be honest, I am afraid of drugs. As a youth, I was afraid of what it could do to me. I had heard horror stories like Art Linkletter's son thinking he could fly and jumping out the window and dying. I knew people who had gone permanently nuts and were on disability because of drug abuse.

I'm glad I was scared because, while some of my peers were wasting their youth getting high and running from the law, I was getting my education and earning money to afford a decent life and, with my extra time and money, I was helping make other people's lives better.

(And, I was quite aware that not everyone in school was doing drugs. One need only look around to realize this.)

Today, I am still scared of drugs. I'm scared of what it can do to kids in my life, and kids in general, and the community, and the US economy, and conditions in developing countries where the drugs come from / through.

I personally think there are some things everyone should be scared of, and
illegal drugs are in that category.

I never attended a DARE course as they came along after I was too old. My younger siblings who attended it seemed to benefit from it. I think it's good to make people aware of what drugs can do to them. I also think it's good for them to consider, in advance, what they would say if peers tried to pressure them into taking drugs. But, more broadly, the ability to handle peer pressure is a separate issue that a DARE class is not really equipped to resolve. It requires that the child have a vision of his own future that is worth protecting from drugs as well as other negative peer-related influences.

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One of my brother's friends, who was a huge pothead, said that DARE stands for Drugs Are Really Expensive.

I snickered.

Amy
http://prettybabies.blogspot.com

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I never did the DARE program in school. I think it existed, but if it did, it was very new, and our school didn't take part. I don't think it would have made a difference in my case, anyway. I'm a self-admitted "goody-two-shoes" (you know the type, don't drink, don't smoke....) and wouldn't have touched a drug if you put it on the table in front of me.

However. I remember, and will until I die, the day that David Toma (http://www.davidtoma.com/) spoke at our high school. (Toma is a retired police officer on whom the TV show "Baretta" was based.) It was hot in that gym, nobody wanted to go. But we were riveted. You could have set the building on fire, and none of us would have left - this is the hold that man had on his audience. He spoke straight and didn't pull any punches when describing the effects of drugs and alcohol on a person. When we left, many, many of my fellow students were pale, shaking, or crying. One friend quit smoking that day. Others pledged to never, ever touch an illegal substance as long as they lived.

Too bad DARE doesn't have the same impact. They could take a few lessons from Mr. Toma.

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DARE is a well intentioned program that didn't work too well here.

I honestly don't know what will other than education and parental involvement. That involves watching our kids closely and never thinking "it can't happen to us". Yes, it can.

I'm with SKL. I was scared of drugs too and it probably saved my life.

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Years ago I worked for a company that was just starting a study of the DARE program; I helped set up some of the IT side of the project, but then left to go back to school. When I read this, I thought "hmm, whatever happened to the research RTI was doing?" Well, I googled it. Turns out that in 1994 they said that DARE wasn't working ( http://tinyurl.com/3955oc ). In fact, Wikipedia cites Dateline NBC as saying the research was "suppressed." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Abuse_Resistance_Education

Like a lot of other posters, I don't have personal experience with either DARE or drug use, but I am concerned that with the issues in education today they are still taking valuable classroom time for a program that multiple researchers say is ineffective. Either fix it or stop wasting kids' time with it.

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I agree that DARE seems to introduce drugs to the kids too soon. I know the DARE people meant well, and thought that getting to the kids before it was too late was the ticket, but obviously it wasn't. I really think they should just should start airing updated versions of "Scared Straight".

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To be honest, I'd never even heard about half of the drugs they were telling me about.

I do believe, however, that the kids who are going to do drugs (or do it regularly, not just once) are already aware of it by the time they get to fifth grade.

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