Source: Houston Chronicle (TX) Contact: http://www.chron.com/ Pubdate: Thu, 27 Aug 1998 Author: Julie Mason STUDY QUESTIONS DARE PROGRAM It's `only marginally successful' in steering youth from drug abuse An independent report released Wednesday found Houston's $3.7 million-a-year DARE program "only marginally successful" in steering youngsters from substance abuse. The study, by University of Houston social sciences professor Bruce Gay, suggests the Drug Abuse Resistance Education curriculum in local schools may not be working. "There is very little compelling evidence to suggest that the primary goal of the DARE program is being reached at a statistically significant level," Gay concludes. The results track other U.S. studies that have similarly questioned the effectiveness of DARE, an anti-drug and anti-alcohol program started in Los Angeles in 1983 and currently taught in an estimated 10,000 cities worldwide. About 27,000 fifth-graders and 24,000 seventh-graders participate in DARE programs in Houston. The Houston Police Department's DARE program costs $3.7 million a year to operate, including $3.3 million to pay the administrative cost of salaries and benefits for the 63 involved officers. Earlier this year, Mayor Lee Brown rebuffed highly skeptical City Council members who sought to cut the DARE funding in the city budget. Councilman Ray Driscoll, who led the attempt to reduce DARE funding by 50 percent, said Wednesday the UH report vindicates his sentiments about the program's effectiveness. "I would like to see at least half of that money go to assessing other programs -- because there are other programs out there that work," Driscoll said. "Regardless of what the powers that be are saying, this program looks like it's not working." Brown and Police Chief C.O. Bradford said they remain strongly behind DARE, with Bradford saying he will use the study's results to fine-tune the program to better serve children. "Marginally successful doesn't mean woefully a failure to me," Bradford said. "I'm pleased with the report in that it does not indicate the program is a failure." Brown noted the study found that four of DARE's 12 objectives were being achieved through the program. "DARE does work," said Brown, former national drug policy adviser to President Clinton. "We are going to work toward finding better ways to make DARE more effective." The study is based on an analysis of 1,771 surveys distributed at 23 schools in the Houston Independent School District. The ethnic breakdown was 54.6 percent Hispanic, 21 percent black, 18 percent Anglo and 6.5 percent other. Survey-takers compared students' attitudes and opinions before and after participating in DARE, with those of youngsters who did not participate in DARE. The report noted, however that DARE's primary objective -- "to prevent or reduce drug abuse and violence among children and youth" -- may start off with a major obstacle in the form of early drug use among kids. Among students surveyed prior to participating in the DARE program -- generally, fifth-graders -- 15 percent had tried drugs, 18 percent had tried tobacco and 32 percent had tried alcohol. When survey-takers returned at the conclusion of the DARE program in May to measure responses again, they found that drug usage was up 29 percent, tobacco usage up 34 percent and alcohol increased 4 percent. "While it is true that, even before participating in the DARE program, a significant number of children were already experimenting with controlled substances, some habitually," the report notes, "the DARE program was unable to encourage its own participants, while in the program, to prevent or reduce drug abuse." Councilman Carroll Robinson, calling such "marginal success" insufficient, questioned what DARE is providing the city for the money. "I think there is going to be some support on council to look at the level of funding," Robinson said. "It's good to rally kids, but if you want to solve problems, you have to get beyond the rally and the rah-rah." The report notes using police officers as DARE instructors did not have a consistently positive effect on students in the program. Prior to DARE, 22 percent of students in the schools offering DARE said they thought officers were "mean." After taking part in DARE, 26.7 percent of students said officers are "mean." But, the report noted, in the control group of students not participating in DARE, 48 percent said they thought police were mean during the first round of surveys, while 33 percent said so in follow-up surveys. "This type of response was unpredicted and makes the issue more, rather than less, ambiguous," Gay noted. The report did find some areas where DARE is effective. The four objectives where DARE made a positive difference include changing beliefs about drug use, learning ways to say no, managing stress and making decisions about risky behaviors. Less successful were: Considering consequences, understanding the effects of drugs, building self-esteem, learning assertiveness, nonviolent ways to deal with anger, handling media influences, positive alternatives and resisting gangs. Bradford said one strong possibility is starting DARE education in the fourth grade, rather than fifth, and targeting specific schools for DARE curriculum. "Perhaps the children most at risk are not being helped early enough," he said, adding "some need it more than others." Councilman Rob Todd, who stopped short of withdrawing his longtime support of DARE, questioned the survey's methodology, noting that Houston has many other school districts not included in the report. "I don't think that anyone has said DARE is perfect," Todd said. "I do think the city needs to craft some approach to fight the drug problem in this city, particularly when it comes to kids." - --- Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson