Pubdate: Sun, 12 Nov 2006
Source: Daily Press (Victorville, CA)
Copyright: 2006 Daily Press
Contact: http://www.vvdailypress.com/contact/
Website: http://www.vvdailypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1061
Author: Gretchen Losi

SEEING THROUGH THE RED RIBBONS

Studies Show School-Based Drug Education Programs Are 
Well-Intentioned -- but Highly Ineffective

VICTORVILLE -- Drive by a school in the fall and you're bound to see 
little red ribbons tied to the fence, carefully placed there by 
students also wearing red.

Since 1988, schools across the country have devoted one week in 
autumn to the Red Ribbon program -- the most farreaching and 
well-known drug prevention event in America.

"I think red ribbon week is a wonderful thing that should be 
encouraged worldwide to help make the world be drug free," 13-year 
old Juan Lopez of Victorville said.

There's no doubt the program is popular. But several studies, 
teachers and even students say that while Red Ribbon week is 
well-intentioned, it's highly ineffective in combating drug use.

At 13-year-old Ross Kelsey's school, students were asked to sign a 
contract promising to stay drug free. He signed the paper but said 
about 50 percent of his middle school peers did not.

"I don't feel that Red Ribbon Week has any great influence over the 
aspects of drug use. Though the initiative is a good idea, I doubt it 
has any actual effect on how most people think," Kelsey said.

It would likely be career suicide in this politically correct world 
for teachers to speak out publicly against a program that is said to 
educate students about the dangers of drugs. But off the record, some 
teachers have called the program a "weeklong nuisance," a "disruption 
of class time" and said their students see it as nothing more than a 
way to spend time "goofing off" rather than focusing on their school work.

Several older students who went through the program in elementary and 
middle school also criticized it, stating that as they got older and 
were confronted with the choice to try drugs or "just say no," what 
they heard in school played no role in their decision-making.

In a recent study by the California Attorney General, 30 percent of 
seventh-graders and 47 percent of ninth-graders surveyed said they 
had alcohol in the past six months. Twenty--one percent of 
11thgraders were defined as binge or heavy drinkers -- defined as 
consuming five drinks in a row within the past 30 days -- and 22 
percent of ninth-grade students admitted having smoked marijuana, the 
study reported.

"At 16 when I was asked to do pot for the first time, the contract I 
signed in middle school never entered my mind," Henry Neel of 
Victorville said. "I don't advocate drug use, and I don't do drugs, 
but I have tried some. I'm just saying that Red Ribbon week didn't 
change my mind even a little bit."

Several studies echo the sentiments that one-size-fits-all lessons do 
little to prepare kids for the real drug choices they're likely to face.

As students grow older, they become progressively more convinced that 
drug-prevention programs are ineffective, according to a 1995 study 
commissioned by the California Department of Education. In the 
5,000-student, 240-school study, more than 40 percent of students 
polled in a random sample told researchers their decision whether to 
use intoxicants was influenced "not at all" by programs teaching 
drugs' harmful effects and strategies for preventing use. The CDE 
opted not to publish the $3 million report.

Another report conducted for the Justice Department by the 
Durham-based Research Triangle Institute confirms that DARE appears 
to have "a limited to essentially non-existent effect" on teen drug 
use. The department also refused to publish the report, opting 
instead to revise the program.

That's not to say these programs don't have their supporters.

Eleven years after these programs were scrutinized by negative 
reports, they are still in full swing. With hundreds of millions of 
tax dollars invested in these programs and schools reaping these 
funds by utilizing them, it would seem they are here to stay.

There are teachers who are thankful to have the program as a tool to 
open up discussions on drug and alcohol dangers. And there are 
students who feel it can make a difference.

"Joining Red Ribbon Week is one of the most important things a person 
could do for their community. It influences kids not to use drugs," 
13-yearold Ana Escobar of Victorville said. "Red Ribbon Week is a 
chance for kids to meet new friends that don't think drugs are cool 
and that show support on being drug free."
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