Pubdate: Sat, 27 Jan 2001
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2001 The Kansas City Star
Contact:  1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108
Feedback: http://www.kansascity.com/Discussion/
Website: http://www.kcstar.com/
Author: James Hart
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

SCHOOLS AND POLICE PONDER USE, EFFECTIVENESS OF DARE

Sgt. Dan Green believes in DARE, a prevention program in which police visit 
schools and teach students to avoid drugs and alcohol.

Green oversees the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program for the Missouri 
Highway Patrol in 13 counties, coordinating more than 100 officers who 
address thousands of students each year.

So when anyone questions DARE's effectiveness, Green is likely to counter 
with one question: Whom would people rather have their children learn the 
truth about drugs from -- their friends or a police officer?

It's a good question, but one without an easy answer. Critics say DARE does 
little to keep students away from drugs and alcohol. Money and manpower, 
they say, are being misused.

Blue Valley and Olathe schools have dumped DARE for other programs. And 
Roeland Park has suspended its DARE program until it can be reviewed.

Supporters, though, say study after study shows that police, parents, 
teachers and children love DARE, which reaches 36 million students globally 
per year.

"DARE is a proven police-community relations program with, at the moment, 
no proof that it changes drug abuse," said Mark A.R. Kleiman, a professor 
at the University of California-Los Angeles who has studied drug policy.

A large number of area schools and police departments are sticking with 
DARE. Police in both Kansas Citys use it. The Shawnee Mission School 
District also uses DARE.

DARE is effective, supporters say, even if the results might be difficult 
to count. Local DARE officers say children respond well to their lessons.

"It's hard to say how many people you have saved, because you don't really 
know that," said Allison Murphy, a DARE officer for the Independence Police 
Department. "People, just because they can't quantify the results, just 
don't want to believe it's valuable."

The program was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles. Today, its lessons can be 
found in more than 50 countries, said Ralph Lochridge, the director of 
communications for the national DARE office in Los Angeles.

DARE programs are sponsored by communities and schools, sometimes with 
federal money, sometimes with local money paying for educational materials. 
Local police -- after they have completed training to teach DARE -- visit 
classes to give regular lessons.

Lochridge, in a recent interview, said some DARE critics are trying to 
promote drug legalization. Others, he said, are trying to attack DARE so 
their own lesson plans for drug prevention will sell better.

Critics often are tagged as legalization proponents for suggesting 
something might be better than DARE, Kleiman said. The program is aimed at 
emotions, not logic, he added. Some of its events -- such as the DARE 
graduation -- can be very moving.

"DARE makes true believers, both of the cops and a lot of the parents," 
Kleiman said.

Each side can point to studies that support its views on DARE's effectiveness.

A study from the University of Kentucky showed virtually no difference in 
drug use between DARE students and others who had a different anti-drug 
education, years after they had gone through their respective programs.

DARE points people to several studies on its Web site. Much of the research 
measures the popularity of the program with students, teachers and police, 
but a study from Ohio State University shows DARE students are less likely 
to be in groups at risk from drug abuse.

A national study of its effectiveness is needed, and DARE might undertake 
one, Lochridge said.

Neither Kleiman nor Lochridge believes that prevention programs such as 
DARE are magic cures, able to stop drug abuse with 100 percent accuracy. 
"The best stuff we know how to do is only modestly effective," Kleiman said.

Schools could do more, Lochridge said. DARE has the best results when 
students get anti-drug lessons starting in kindergarten and going through 
high school -- something that only about 16 percent of DARE schools do.

This school year is Blue Valley's first without DARE.

"There's no question about the fact that (DARE) is popular," said Millie 
Sampson, the Blue Valley coordinating teacher for health and physical 
education.

But to keep about $70,000 annually in Title IV funding from the U.S. 
Department of Education, Blue Valley needed to show that its drug 
prevention program was effective, Sampson said. Or it needed to pick a 
lesson plan already recommended by the Education Department.

DARE is not on the recommended list.

More than 180 school districts in Kansas use DARE, said Jerry Tenbrink, the 
statewide DARE coordinator and an employee in the state attorney general's 
office. Some districts have returned to DARE after dropping it, he added.

Blue Valley chose Life Skills Training, which is recommended by the 
Department of Education. Sampson said the new lessons are taught by 
teachers and tend to do a better job getting children involved.

DARE is good at building relationships between students and police, so Blue 
Valley regularly invites officers to talk about selected topics, Sampson said.

Green of the Missouri Highway Patrol said the DARE curriculum, which is 
police officers can provide a more realistic perspective about the 
consequences of drug use.

Officers, he said, are the ones who see the aftereffects of a drunken 
driver. They are the ones who notify a family when someone dies in an accident.

The Roeland Park Police Department is putting its DARE classes into 
hibernation because the qualified officers are too busy to teach right now, 
Chief Frank Denning said.

"We're not abandoning that philosophy," Denning said. "That is always going 
to be our position: Kids shouldn't do drugs." The chief and the City 
Council also have heard concerns that other communities have about DARE.

Roeland Park intends to have a drug prevention program ready by fall, after 
the city has consulted residents, educators and other school districts, 
Denning said. DARE could be the prevention program that city leaders choose.

But Roeland Park wants to make sure that time and resources are being used 
wisely, Denning said. After all, he added, every organization and program 
has room for improvement.

"It may be time for a change," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager