Pubdate: Tue, 29 Oct 2002
Source: Wilmington Morning Star (NC)
Copyright: 2002 Wilmington Morning Star
Contact:  http://www.wilmingtonstar.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/500
Author: Greg Toppo, Associated Press

REVAMPED D.A.R.E. PROGRAM CUTS KIDS' DRUG USE

The New Curriculum Targets 5th-, 7th- And 9th-Grade Students

WASHINGTON - An overhauled version of the much-maligned D.A.R.E. anti-drug 
program shows promising results in early trials, researchers said, 
suggesting that lessons once reserved for fifth-graders could be reborn 
someday for pupils in elementary school through high school.

Researchers found that seventh-graders in six cities who took part in the 
new curriculum were more likely to find using drugs socially inappropriate 
than a control group, were better at refusing drugs and had fewer 
misconceptions about how many of their peers use drugs. They were also less 
likely to say they would use inhalants.

"It shows us that the program is doing what it intended to do, and in a 
very significant way," said Zili Sloboda, an epidemiologist at the 
Institute for Health and Social Policy at the University of Akron.

The results were being released today by the university.

Dr. Sloboda, who led the study, said it's too early to tell if the new 
program will have significant impact on drug use but anticipated a 
follow-up program in high school will help children stay off drugs just as 
pressure to use them begins in earnest.

"These kids are prepared now," she said. "Now we've got to reinforce that 
when they enter the ninth grade."

Researchers studied about 15,500 seventh-graders, some of whom took part in 
the new curriculum and others, in a control group, who didn't. They plan to 
follow the students until their junior year in high school.

D.A.R.E., or Drug Abuse Resistance Education, was created by police 
officers in Los Angeles in 1983, to teach fifth-graders about the dangers 
of drugs. The program has been implemented in 80 percent of school 
districts, but over the past few years critics have said it doesn't work.

A study last August by the University of North Carolina found that several 
top anti-drug programs, including the original version of D.A.R.E., were 
either ineffective or hadn't been sufficiently tested.

Other researchers have found that illegal drug use among teenagers has 
remained level or decreased over the past few years, partly because adults 
are warning students about drug use and encouraging kids to nurture other 
interests.

The new D.A.R.E. curriculum will target students not only in fifth grade, 
but in seventh and ninth grades as well. Teachers will also help teach 
lessons, unlike the current program, taught largely by police officers.

Dr. Sloboda said the new program also will involve more lifelike situations 
and help students better confront peer pressure.

The study is following students in Detroit; Houston; Los Angeles; Newark, 
N.J.; New Orleans; and St. Louis.
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