cannabisnews.com: Is DARE's Message To Kids Out of Step?





Is DARE's Message To Kids Out of Step?
Posted by CN Staff on April 09, 2003 at 09:59:59 PT
By Doug Beazley, Edmonton Sun
Source: Edmonton Sun
In Miami, spring of 1999, thousands of grade-school kids packed the Orange Bowl to get their official drug-free certificates from Gov. Jeb Bush. The president's brother grinned his approval as the Florida Highway Patrol put on a show for the children. They rolled an armoured personnel carrier onto the field, from which a dozen tactical squad cops emerged to stage a mock "shootout" with mock "drug dealers." 
After they "killed" the "pushers," the kids (being kids) roared happily. They could hardly call it a War on Drugs if it didn't include at least one tank, could they? The Miami event was a graduation ceremony for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program - DARE, for short. Tomorrow, the program marks its 20th year in elementary schools on both sides of the border: the most widespread school anti-drug program in North America, and the most controversial. "All the scientifically credible, peer-review studies I've seen said they could find no evidence the DARE program had any effect at all on teenagers' use of alcohol and illicit drugs," said Rod Skager, professor emeritus of psychological studies in education at the University of California. Skager has been involved in an annual survey by the state Attorney General's Office on teen drug use since 1985. He represents a growing consensus among North American academics on addictions prevention: the "just say no" philosophy embodied by DARE isn't working. As of 1999, more than a dozen studies in the U.S. concluded that the $230-million international DARE program had no impact on teen drug use. Launched by the L.A. cops in 1983, DARE puts police officers in Grade 6 classrooms to warn kids off tobacco, alcohol and illegal drugs. The program leans heavily on promoting children's self-esteem as a barrier against peer pressure. DARE also endorses the "gateway" theory of addiction, which holds that the milder illicit drugs - like marijuana - lead directly to experimentation with, and addiction to, hard drugs like crack cocaine and heroin. The fact that the gateway theory has been debunked by numberless scientific studies doesn't seem to trouble Sgt. John Stokker much. "It has been discredited by some studies, validated by others," said Stokker, who co-ordinates the DARE program for the Edmonton city police. The program is offered in 75 Edmonton schools now, and Stokker said there's a waiting list at least that long of schools trying to get their own DARE program. Stokker doesn't have a cost estimate for DARE in Edmonton: officers usually teach the classes during working hours, so it all ends up on the city's payroll tab. "It's more of a life-skills course than an (anti-drug program)," he said. "We're talking to kids about peer pressure, self-esteem, gang violence. We find that kids 11 and 12 years old are still very receptive to a message." But it's the message that needs tweaking, according to DARE's critics. Dr. Marsha Rosenbaum is a PhD in medical sociology who works with the California-based Drug Policy Alliance, a lobby group trying to get the U.S. to replace its zero-tolerance policy with a more realistic harm-reduction model. Rosenbaum said the problem with DARE's gateway argument is that it assumes teenagers are dumber than they look. "Adolescents can see the inherent contradictions, the fact that some mind-altering drugs are legal and some aren't," she said. "They know other kids who used marijuana and didn't end up on heroin or cocaine. "So there's this huge credibility gap there, and they begin to doubt the whole abstinence message." Add to that the fact that both Canada and the United States are fast becoming pharmaceutical cultures. Every kid knows someone on Ritalin or an anti-depressant, said Rosenbaum: teens see the irony in preaching abstinence when pharma firms plug psychoactive drugs for everything from excess anxiety to shyness. "Drug education should be threaded through the whole curriculum, courses like chemistry and biology. And it should stick to the facts, to what these drugs actually do and what the real harm can be," said Rosenbaum. Food for thought: according to a survey run out of the U of A in 2001, more than half of Alberta kids aged 16-18 had tried marijuana by the end of high school. If DARE's gateway theory is correct, they're all headed for crack addiction. Maybe the police need to buy a tank. Newshawk: Paul Armentano - http://www.norml.org/Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Author: Doug Beazley, Edmonton SunPublished:   Wednesday, April 9, 2003 Copyright: 2003 Canoe Limited PartnershipContact: letters edm.sunpub.comWebsite: http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtmlRelated Articles & Web Site:Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/DARE Officers Put a Scare Into Parents http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14911.shtmlCannabisNews DARE Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/DARE.shtml
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Comment #4 posted by freedom fighter on April 09, 2003 at 18:24:20 PT
What?
In Miami, spring of 1999, thousands of grade-school kids packed the Orange Bowl to get their official drug-free certificates from Gov. Jeb Bush. 
The president's brother grinned his approval as the Florida Highway Patrol put on a show for the children. They rolled an armoured personnel carrier onto the field, from which a dozen tactical squad cops emerged to stage a mock "shootout" with mock "drug dealers." After they "killed" the "pushers," the kids (being kids) roared happily. Is that true? Did it happened here in good old USA? If it did, it's really sad because the whole show was not about drugs.It's about killing human beings.. We are teaching these children how to kill. Lehder, you got that right.. Remember the children of the Nazis?? Ain't no difference! Just Sick!pazff
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Comment #3 posted by i420 on April 09, 2003 at 14:58:25 PT
SCARE .... DARE either or is a joke
That is such b.s. is there anyone out there with an image pg that can make FoM a "SCARE" icon similar to the DARE icon???
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Comment #2 posted by Lehder on April 09, 2003 at 10:23:30 PT
the children are being driven insane
>>thousands of grade-school kids packed
   the Orange Bowl>>armoured personnel carrier... a dozen tactical squad cops emerged to stage a mock "shootout" with mock "drug dealers." >>"It's more of a life-skills course than an (anti-drug program)," he saidIn a few years these kids, having mastered the life skills, will be shooting it out with the North Koreans or Chinese, all to the delight of a grinning president and his grinning brother. Two weeks ago some slightly older kids were also grinning, heavily armed and anxious for their first kill. Now they've tasted blood. They'll be returning soon, replaced by more anxious kids, to populate the police departments, the Homeland Security forces and the DEA. They'll know what they are to do, will take pride in their work and maybe even put on a show for the kids.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on April 09, 2003 at 10:01:47 PT
Just a Note
I'm sorry that I can't use the DARE icon anymore. They got upset so I used my CannabisNews icon.
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