Pubdate: Wed, 05 Dec 2007
Source: Suffolk Life (NY)
Copyright: 2007 Suffolk Life Newspapers
Contact:  http://www.suffolklife.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4631
Author: George Wallace
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

OFFICIALS CALL DARE INEFFECTIVE

When it comes to replacing the nearly 20-year-old Drug Abuse 
Resistance Education program, it's full speed ahead, according to 
Suffolk County officials - despite the protests of at least one 
legislator who thinks that the DARE program should be kept going as 
presently constituted.

In response to the news that the county administration intends to 
roll aspects of DARE into the county's newly proposed K-12 
HealthSmart program, Legislator Cameron Alden (R-Islip) has 
introduced legislation that would continue the DARE program in 
Suffolk. Saying that DARE "continues to enjoy strong support from 
school districts and members of the community," Alden recently filed 
a bill calling modifications to or the elimination of the program a 
policy shift significant enough that it should be subject to 
legislative review and approval.

DARE is a program that has seen its day and is out of date, according 
to both Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer and Humayun 
Chaudhry, the commissioner of Suffolk's Department of Health 
Services. "The DARE program has had problems," Chaudhry noted. "There 
have been a couple of studies done, locally and nationally, which 
have found that it was not as effective as it was touted to be."

"In 1988, cell phones weren't in play, Internet wasn't in play," 
added Dormer. "There's gang violence, identity theft, bullying, all 
sorts of issues to deal with today that aren't covered in DARE. We 
need a 21st century program."

However, Alden disagrees. "I was disappointed when I got the memo 
that they're going to reassign the officers out of the DARE program," 
said Alden. "DARE is a known entity, no one has said this is a bad 
program, it's all speculation. I'm not interested in replacing it 
with another program unless I know that the new program will work."

DARE has served as an in-school anti-drug program since it was 
founded in 1983 in Los Angeles as a way to give students the skills 
they need to avoid involvement in drugs, gangs and violence. A police 
officer-led series of classroom lessons that teaches children how to 
resist peer pressure and live productive drug- and violence-free 
lives, DARE has the added benefit, say proponents, of giving children 
a positive experience with a uniformed officer. Here in Suffolk 
County, it has been offered to fifth-through seventh-graders since 1988.

But according to Chaudhry, a federal study done by the US Government 
Accountability Office questioned the effectiveness of the program, 
and in 2002 the National Research Council got in on the act. About 
that time, a local study here in Suffolk County also raised questions 
about DARE's efficacy. "In 2001, the Suffolk County Legislature task 
force put out a report that said there was no credible evidence that 
DARE decreases drug use," said Chaudhry.

In a GAO report to the US Senate, dated January 15, 2003, Marjorie 
Kanof, managing director of healthcare for the GAO, stated that they 
had found no significant differences in illicit drug use between 
students who received DARE in the fifth or sixth grades, and students 
who did not.

Six long-term evaluations were conducted of DARE programs in 
Kentucky, Illinois and Colorado, with similar findings. In one, a 
sample of 1,798 students from 36 urban, suburban and rural schools in 
Illinois were surveyed over the course of several years, from the 
sixth through twelfth grades. Eighteen elementary schools were 
participating in the DARE intervention and 19 others were not. The 
study measured any use of illicit drugs by students.

"No statistically significant differences were observed between the 
intervention and control groups," according to the report on the 
study. "The DARE students were more likely to report stronger 
negative attitudes about drug use and improved social resistance 
skills immediately after the intervention. However, these positive 
effects eroded over time."

"[I]t would be a disservice to our kids not to pay attention to these 
studies," Dormer added. "We could keep this expensive program, cancel 
it completely, or amend the program to make it better. We've chosen 
the latter. We will take the good parts of DARE and incorporate them."

Suffolk County isn't alone in wanting to move to a new way of 
providing education to children. According to Chaudhry, DARE is being 
replaced in schools and police departments across the country, such 
as Chandler School District in Arizona, and the Shorewood School 
District in Milwaukee, as well as schools in Jacksonville, Florida 
and Knoxville, Tennessee, to name a few.

Now it's Suffolk's turn, said Chaudhry. "The HealthSmart curriculum 
provides a range of topics that are identified by the Centers for 
Disease Control as important issues, not just the ones identified by 
DARE," he said. "We're going to work with the police commissioner to 
provide much more. We'll have uniformed officers who will supplement 
what we already talk about."

The new program will be called "Enhanced HealthSmart Curriculum," and 
officers would supplement the teachers' activities in a comprehensive 
range of health education issues. "We want to do a seamless 
transition, no gap, but we want to we want to move away from DARE as 
quickly as possible. As soon as the paperwork is complete, 
internally, we intend to."

Alden's bill to retain DARE went to the Legislature's Safety 
Committee for consideration last week, and was tabled. For his part, 
Alden thinks DARE is getting the job done, and said he will continue 
to push for its continuance.

"Kids are getting something out of this, at a minimum they're 
establishing a rapport with a police officer," he said. "They are 
able to go home and have conversations with parents about drugs, 
alcohol and cigarettes. That's hard to do. At least when they 
graduate from the program, they have a good attitude. I go to DARE 
graduations, and I'm very encouraged, and I think we should be expanding it."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom