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." - ---