cannabisnews.com: New Study Says Federal School Drug Programs Fail New Study Says Federal School Drug Programs Fail Posted by CN Staff on August 21, 2002 at 19:56:14 PT Fox News Report Source: FoxNews.com A new study questions whether school anti-drug programs are actually all that effective. Some say they're valuable efforts to keep kids on the right track, but others wonder if they're really worth the money spent on them.The nation's three biggest drug prevention programs are in 80 percent of American schools. But now, a University of North Carolina study says that DARE, "McGruff the Crime Dog" and "Here's Looking at You" don't work -- and a chorus of critics agree. "There is literature this thick of evaluations of DARE, and they all say the same thing," said Mark Kleiner, a professor at the University of California Los Angeles. "There is no change in drug use between kids who have DARE and kids who don't have DARE."But DARE defends its program, citing its own studies and FBI statistics that they say prove such programs are effective."DARE is so prevalent, it's such an easy target," said Charlie Parsons of DARE. But he's quick to point out that no drug curriculum is a magic bullet."DARE is only part of the solution -- an important part," Parsons said. "There are many other factors and influences on the children, and one of the most important are the parents."Naysayers agree that parental involvement is key, but they say it's time for drug education to evolve into something more than puppets and slogans. What works, they say, is an emphasis on a healthy lifestyle -- and an end to the anti-drug lectures kids often don't respond to."I would not have a segment in my curriculum called 'anti-drug' -- I think that's like getting the kids' guard up," Kleiner said. "We should tell the kids a lot about health risk behavior, about the fact that they have to maintain their bodies and there are ways of doing that. And then drugs come in as a footnote."After 20 years of anti-drug programs, youth drug abuse is down, but critics complain that's like saying after 20 years of English, some kids can read and write. They insist those resources should have brought about a dramatic improvement in the fight to keep teens off drugs -- but that won't happen until schools invest in smarter programs that work.Fox News' Trace Gallagher contributed to this report.Source: FoxNews.comAuthor: Fox News Report & Trace GallagherPublished: Wednesday, August 21, 2002 Copyright: Fox News Network, LLC 2002Website: http://www.foxnews.com/Comments: foxnewsonline foxnews.comRelated Articles:Failure of DARE - Las Vegas Review-Journal http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13798.shtmlDare To Keep Your Kids Off DARE http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13651.shtmlAnti-Drug Efforts Found Ineffective http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13629.shtmlCannabisNews DARE Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/DARE.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #3 posted by pokesmotter on August 22, 2002 at 20:19:23 PT: dan b actually i wrote it in my senior year in high school. It was my AP English class. yeah my teacher said i did it in a mature way and educated him too. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by Dan B on August 22, 2002 at 08:08:20 PT Good work, pokesmotter! I appreciate anyone who has the guts to tackle any facet of the drug war in a writing class, and I especially applaud the good grade you received. I teach English at a university, so I know what it takes to receive a high grade in an advanced class. I am sure that you educated your instructor (teacher? professor?) at the same time you earned a good grade.Well done.Dan B [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by pokesmotter on August 21, 2002 at 20:12:06 PT: i knew this too i cited studies that proved dare inneffective in a recent paper i wrote about the war on drugs. i got a B on it in an advanced class. not bad. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment