Drug Abuse Resistance Education

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Logo of D.A.R.E
Logo of D.A.R.E

Drug Abuse Resistance Education, better known as DARE or D.A.R.E., is an international education program, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, which seeks to discourage interest in illegal drugs, gangs, and violence. DARE, which has expanded globally since its founding in 1983, is the major demand-side drug control strategy of the U.S. War on Drugs. Students who enter the latest of over a dozen versions of the program sign a pledge to never use drugs or join gangs and are taught by local law enforcement about the dangers of drug use in a high-tech, interactive, ten week in-school curriculum. According to the DARE website, 36 million children around the world — 26 million in the U.S. — are part of the program. The program is implemented in 80% of the nation's school districts, and 54 countries around the world.[1]

Contents

[edit] Overview

DARE America is the main resource center that provides officer training, supports the development and evaluation of the DARE curriculum, provides student educational materials, monitors instruction standards and program results, and creates national awareness for both community and national chapters of the program. The DARE program has since been used throughout the U.S. and in several other countries. It has received numerous accolades and awards for delivering the message to keep "kids off drugs."[1]

Several spin-off or inspired programs, such as DECIDE, have also been introduced for use in elementary school (and, to a lesser extent, junior high school) classrooms.

[edit] DARE curriculum

The instructors of the DARE curriculum are local police officers who must undergo 80 hours of special training in areas such as child development, classroom management, teaching techniques, and communication skills. For high school instructors, 40 hours of additional training are prescribed. [1] Police officers are invited by the local school districts to speak and work with students. There are programs for different age levels. Working with the classroom teachers, students work over a number of sessions on workbooks and interactive discussions.

The course is complemented by a variety of activities aimed at children, such as DARE songs which the students sing together, role-playing, as well as picture storybooks. Older children are presented with examples of the grimmer aspects of drug abuse, such as health and crime problems.


[edit] History

DARE America, a national non-profit organization, was founded in 1983 by Los Angeles Police chief Daryl Gates.[2] Drug-related crimes were the main problems that the LAPD faced. D.A.R.E. was based on his contention that the present generation had already surrendered to drug dependency and that the country’s future lies with the readiness of our children to resist involvement. [2] Gates believed that uniformed police officers were the best equipped to deliver the message that drugs are bad.

The Safe and drug-free schools act (Improving America's Schools Act of 1994) provided funding for use in D.A.R.E. programs in the United States. In the 1996 State of the Union address, President Clinton even singled out D.A.R.E. for praise: "People like these DARE officers are making a real impression on grade-school children that will give them strength to say no when the time comes."[3]

[edit] Funding

One political issue with D.A.R.E. in the United States is the funding. D.A.R.E. draws its funding as a crime prevention initiative that serves the educational community. School districts do not always have to pay to have D.A.R.E officers participate in programs. They are funded through the law enforcement agencies. This makes it popular at a local level for teachers and parent groups. Replacement programs, like ALERT in the Los Angeles Unified School District required district funding and substitute teachers. Cities that have cut DARE programs have been able to re-allocate funding for other purposes. At higher political levels, the DARE program is one among many competing for funding. The State and Federal politics makes a high-visibility program like D.A.R.E. a target for criticism, primarily as its viability as an educational tool.

[edit] Criticism

DARE has fallen under heavy criticism from various sources. The most common complaint is that it is ineffective, and that there is no proof that students who go through the DARE program are any less likely to use drugs.[4] Other evidence suggests that, by exposing young impressionable children to drugs, the program is in fact encouraging and nurturing drug use.[5]

[edit] Civil rights concerns

Some criticism stems from a libertarian point of view in which drug use should not be regarded as a crime. Also, some see it as a step towards authoritarianism that the program might motivate some students to act as amateur spies and report on peers or authority figures.

The DARE program does not actively encourage anonymous reporting of drug use by other students, or parents and teachers. When students begin the D.A.R.E. program they are advised by their instructor not to talk about their parents, relatives or friends in the classroom. However, the program does not prohibit students from volunteering information on others to the instructors.

Because D.A.R.E. officers are teachers, they follow the same local school district guidelines as any school employee in the more than 12,000 communities where the D.A.R.E. program is taught. On the rare occasion when a student approaches a D.A.R.E. officer and advises him or her of a dangerous situation, the officer, like a schoolteacher or principal, is required by law to report this disclosure.[6]

[edit] D.A.R.E. is ineffective

The U.S. Department of Education concluded in 2003 that the DARE program is ineffective and now prohibits its funds from being used to support it.[7] The U.S. Surgeon General's office, the National Academy of Sciences,[7] and the Government Accounting Office also concluded that the program is sometimes counterproductive in some populations, with those who graduate from DARE later having higher rates of drug use. Studies by Dr. Dennis Rosenbaum [8], and by the California Legislative Analyst's office [9] found that DARE graduates were more likely than others to drink alcohol, smoke tobacco and use illegal drugs.

[edit] Unfavorable research suppressed

Administrators of the DARE program have tried to suppress unfavorable research by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) that found that "DARE simply didn't work". A Federal judge ruled that DARE had sought to "suppress scientific research" critical of its program and had "attempted to silence researchers at the Research Triangle Institute," according to editors at the American Journal of Public Health and producers at Dateline NBC. [10][11] Some reporters, like those at Rolling Stone magazine, who have written negative stories on DARE have claimed that they were the victims of harassment and intimidation as a result. [12] Critics such as Students for Sensible Drug Policy, DRCNet, and Drugsense, have exposed the DARE program for teaching misleading and inaccurate information about drugs and drug use.

[edit] Misleading information

Some argue that DARE's "Just Say No" messages mislead students by lumping all drugs (from American beer to Colombian cocaine) in the same category.[13]

[edit] Other programs more effective

It is also argued that DARE should be replaced by programs of proven effectiveness [14]. Many schools have decided to incorporate drug awareness into a larger health program.

[edit] Positive effects of D.A.R.E.

[edit] Interaction with police officers

The DARE program enables students to interact with police officers in a controlled, safe, classroom environment. This helps students and officers meet and understand each other in a friendly manner, instead of having to meet when a student commits a crime, or when officers must intervene in domestic disputes and severe family problems.

[edit] Drug awareness

Although one of the criticisms of the program is that it makes students aware of drugs they might not otherwise know, and reportedly intrigues them, it also makes students aware of the prevalence so that they are not caught off guard when they are made available to them. Many students and parents are unaware of the level of crime, drug dealing and drug use at school[citation needed]. The D.A.R.E. officers bluntly address the students about the ramifications of illegal drug use and the forms that it can take. The officers also make students able to see through the techniques drug dealers use to increase their customer base by peer pressure and drug addiction. D.A.R.E. officers work to educate students about presumed knowledge of the law.

[edit] D.A.R.E. Promotional items

To help market the program, the organization produces and distributes a significant number of promotional items. They are available through the DARE web store. As part of the program, municipalities and schools may budget for some of the items to be given to students as part of the program. Playing off the acronym, many of these collectibles bear the sentence "D.A.R.E. to keep kids off drugs" and "D.A.R.E. to SAY NO". [1]

[edit] The D.A.R.E. T-Shirt

One variation of the D.A.R.E T-shirt design
One variation of the D.A.R.E T-shirt design

The D.A.R.E T-shirt was a T-shirt given to thousands of public school students in the U.S during the 90's, and 00's. It has since become a pop culture icon among youth and young adults in the U.S.

The standard (and most recognized) shirt design was a black tee with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) logo in red and accompanying text underneath in white printed on the front of the shirt. 'To Keep Kids Off Drugs' or 'To Resist Drugs and Violence' are common phrases printed on the shirt.

The T-shirt was traditionally awarded as a prize to students who completed the D.A.R.E program and pledged to stay drug-free although the D.A.R.E. program now authorizes screen-printers to license their graphics.

Originally designed as a declaration of the wearer's drug-free stance, it has since become popular with recreational drug users as a display of pride and defiance. Additionally, it has inspired parody T-shirts featuring backronyms such as "Drugs Are Really Excellent".

A hemp enthusiast, Mark Hornaday, faced a 4-year prison term and a $20,000 fine from charges filed by the Los Angeles DA's office in 1995. Hornaday created and sold a satirical DARE t-shirt, with the inscription, "I turned in my parents and all I got was this lousy t-shirt". NORML defended the suit on free-speech grounds. Charges were eventually dropped.

[edit] D.A.R.E. police cars

West Vancouver D.A.R.E. jeep
West Vancouver D.A.R.E. jeep

A number of D.A.R.E. programs in local police departments have some notable vehicles marked as police cars to promote the program. The DARE cars appear at schools and in parades. Typically these cars are high-end or performance cars that have been seized in a drug raid. They are used to send the message that drug dealers forfeit all their glamorous trappings when they get caught. Cars include the Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang, and Humvee.

D.A.R.E. cars can also be regular police vehicles that are nearing the end of their service life that are pressed into service for the promotion.

[edit] D.A.R.E. in the UK

D.A.R.E. (UK)[15] is a national charity that operates across the UK. The program has been delivered (now discontinued) by Police Officers from the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) to children who attend schools on Garrison estates or located near Garrison areas.

The D.A.R.E UK program is currently operating in the following areas:

  • East Midlands
  • South West
  • London
  • Wales

The program aims to:

  • Provide drug education and prevention activities to help children to understand the dangers of the misuse of drugs
  • Teach about the harmful effects of drugs, providing information that is appropriate to the age group to which it is delivered
  • Develop the life skills to resist peer pressure and personal pressure, and to avoid the misuse of drugs
  • Prevention is better than intervention
  • Educate primary and secondary school children, therefore preventing many of them from misusing drugs

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d DARE.com, the official website of the DARE program.
  2. ^ a b [1] Los Angeles Police Department - History of the LAPD - Chief Gates
  3. ^ [2] President William Jefferson Clinton, 1996 State of the Union Address, January 23, 1996
  4. ^ Drug Abuse Resistance Education: the Effectiveness of DARE by David J. Hanson
  5. ^ Assessing the effects of School-based Drug Education: A Six-year Multi-Level Analysis of Project D.A.R.E.
  6. ^ Human Rights and the US Drug War (see the article 26 analysis section)
  7. ^ a b Zernike, K. Anti-drug program says it will adopt a new strategy. New York Times, February 15, 2001.
  8. ^ Rosenbaum, D. P., and Gordon S. Hanson. Assessing the effects of school-based drug education: A six-year multilevel analysis of project D.A.R.E. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 1998, 35(4), 381-412. abstract, Full text at Schaffer Library of Drug Policy
  9. ^ Bovard, J. DARE's dying gasp. The Future of Freedom Foundation, September, 2000. [3]
  10. ^ D.A.R.E. Sucks
  11. ^ DARE’s Dying Gasp
  12. ^ The Politics of D.A.R.E
  13. ^ Just Say No -- Why DARE Doesn't Work
  14. ^ Ennett, S.T., Tobler, N.S., Ringwalt, C.L., & Flewelling, R.L. How effective is Drug Abuse Resistance Education? A meta-analysis of project DARE outcome evaluations. American Journal of Public Health, 1994, 84(9), 1394-1401.
  15. ^ D.A.R.E UK

[edit] External links

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