Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jul 2005
Source: Times, The  (Munster IN)
Copyright: 2005 The Munster Times
Contact:  http://www.nwitimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/832
Author: Elizabeth Holmes
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

HEBRON TO TAKE ON D.A.R.E.

Police Chief Will Lead Program Despite Critics

Hebron Police Chief Steve Sibbrell faced a group of youngsters during
a two-week training session for new Drug Abuse Resistance Education
instructors last month.

Sibbrell, who will launch the D.A.R.E. program with Hebron
fifth-graders this fall, was a little taken aback.

"You got all these little eyes looking at you," he said. "You're like,
'Oh, God, I don't want to screw up.'"

While Sibbrell, who has shouldered the task of getting the program
started, is fully prepared to teach the students, critics of D.A.R.E.
say no matter what he does, it won't work. More than a dozen studies
have concluded the program's curriculum is flawed and, as a result,
ineffective.

Yet Sibbrell, along with many others, thinks having some sort of drug
abuse prevention program in place is better than not having one at
all.

"For the critics, you're always gonna have 'em," Sibbrell said. "If
you can save one or two people out of what you're doing, I would think
it would be a plus."

D.A.R.E. began in Los Angeles in 1983, with the goal of educating
elementary school kids about substance abuse and decision-making,
while boosting self-esteem. According to the program's website, 36
million children worldwide participate in D.A.R.E. every year.

Over the past two decades, several studies, some of them long-term,
have tried to gauge D.A.R.E.'s effectiveness.

One study, from the University of Kentucky and published by the
American Psychological Association, surveyed more than 1,000
20-year-olds who received D.A.R.E. or a standard drug-education
curriculum while they were in sixth-grade. The study found no
difference between the two groups in terms of actual drug use and
attitudes toward drugs. Perceived self-esteem was no different either.

The same conclusion was reached by a 1998 study from the University of
Chicago, which surveyed nearly 1,800 students in urban, suburban and
rural Illinois every year for six years.

"The results indicated that D.A.R.E. had no long-term effects on a
wide range of drug use measures," the study stated.

D.A.R.E. critics have deterred other schools in Porter County from
using the program.

"I'm not slamming D.A.R.E.," Valparaiso police Detective Capt. Curt
Hawkins said. "There's some controversy involved in that, for one
thing, and we don't like controversy."

Instead, Valparaiso Community Schools uses the GREAT, or Gang
Resistance Education and Training, which is aimed at
middle-schoolers.

Hawkins said the effectiveness of a program depends on a lot of
factors -- including the teaching technique and instructors -- but
agreed with Sibbrell that "anything's better than nothing."

MSD of Boone Township Superintendent George Letz echoed that
sentiment.

"The way I look at it is if it keeps one student from experimenting
with drugs, then it's worth it," Letz said.

Sibbrell is devoted to making D.A.R.E. a positive asset to the Hebron
community -- and without spending the community's assets. For his
D.A.R.E. vehicle, Sibbrell rebuilt a car that was totalled in a wreck.
Funding for D.A.R.E. will come from donations and money confiscated in
drugs heists in Hebron.

Sibbrell said he has worked to get the program started because he
believes in what it does.

"We're giving them the knowledge to make the right decision, to not
use drugs and inhalants and tobacco," he said. "We're hoping that they
take that information that we give them and use that as an extra tool
for themselves." 
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