Pubdate: Wed, 30 Oct 2002
Source: Bolivar Commercial, The (MS)
Copyright: 2002 The Bolivar Commercial, a division of Cleveland Newspapers, Inc
Contact:  http://www.bolivarcom.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1775
Author: David Mann, BC Staff Writer
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

MCCAIN DEFENDS D.A.R.E. PROGRAM, SAYS IT WORKS FINE

D.A.R.E., the national anti-drug program, has been under attack by 
researchers who say it doesn't work, which may have led to a newly designed 
curriculum, but the head of the Cleveland program says the program he's 
used for nearly seven years is the best thing yet for drug intervention.

In January 1996, Police Sgt. Mike McCain began giving lessons concerning 
the dangers of drugs to children in elementary school classrooms throughout 
the area.

Presently, using lesson plans from the D.A.R.E. program, McCain spends a 
total of 37 weeks with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders inside local 
schools for one-hour sessions.

"All I hear from the parents all the time is that it's the greatest thing 
we've done," he said.

The University of Akron released Tuesday results of an evaluation of the 
new D.A.R.E. seventh grade curriculum. The study involved over 15,000 
students from 83 high schools and their 122 middle schools. Half of each 
were randomly assigned the new program and the other half worked as a 
control group for comparisons.

Their research showed improvements in students' decision-making skills, 
drug refusal skills and beliefs that drug use is socially inappropriate.

"The positive findings are very encouraging," said Dr. Zili Sloboda, the 
study's principal investigator. "Even more exciting is the fact that the 
new curriculum is a first step in a process for preparing children for the 
at-risk years."

A major component of the new curriculum is continuing to work with students 
during their high school years - when they are more likely to experiment 
with drugs.

McCain said that there has always been a high school component in the 
Cleveland program, but because of time constraints, he focuses more on 
early intervention in the elementary schools. He also spends a total of 20 
hours with the seventh and eighth grades.

The new curriculum will be implemented in Cleveland School District in 
2004, and since police officers will be placed full-time into schools 
beginning on Nov. 7, high school students will be able to receive more 
focus and McCain can work more with the elementary school children.

The D.A.R.E. program was begun by a group of police officers in Los Angeles 
in 1983 to teach fifth-graders about the dangers of drugs. The program is 
now implemented in 80 percent of school districts nationally.

Although some researchers see many positive aspects of D.A.R.E., many still 
agree that the program doesn't work.

The University of North Carolina led a study last August finding that 
several top anti-drug programs, including the original version of D.A.R.E., 
were either ineffective or not sufficiently tested.

Other researchers said that illegal drug use among teen-agers had remained 
level or dropped slightly over the past several years.

"The majority of the people who want to get marijuana legalized say 
D.A.R.E. doesn't work," McCain commented.

It's too early to know how significantly the new D.A.R.E. program will stop 
drug-use among teens, Sloboda said. She suggested that a follow-up program 
in high school will help them stay off drugs when pressures to experiment 
climb.

Her study was financed by the Robert Wood Foundation and focused on 
students in Detroit; Houston; Los Angeles; Newark, N.J.; New Orleans; and 
St. Louis.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager