cannabisnews.com: DARE’s Clout Smothers Other Drug Programs DARE’s Clout Smothers Other Drug Programs Posted by FoM on February 28, 2000 at 07:33:41 PT By Jodi Upton, The Detroit News Source: The Detroit News Proponents of alternative drug prevention programs hope to crack DARE’s emotional and financial grip on parents, police and educators. Some promise their programs will dissuade teen-agers from trying drugs and alcohol. But it’s not always easy to get into schools with limited funding, because DARE is well-funded, well-organized, well-liked and firmly entrenched. And some experts warn of a cozy relationship between prevention program creators, evaluators and those who stand to make money by selling programs. They say millions are spent every year on programs that may work no better than DARE, an acronym for Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education. According to a Detroit News analysis of 33 Metro area school districts, there is no difference between teen drug and alcohol use in districts that offered DARE and in districts that did not. DARE is used in 70 of the 88 Metro districts. Those who encourage development of other prevention programs say DARE is ineffective and dangerous, because parents, police and educators may mistakenly believe it will prevent their children from doing drugs. Many of the newer programs — even those deemed promising by the National Institutes of Health, such as Life Skills and Project STAR — closely resemble DARE, researchers say. “When you really look at the curriculum, a lot of these programs are really very similar,” said Luanne Rohrbach, one of the original researchers on SMART — the precursor to DARE — at the University of Southern California. “The research community is actually fairly small, and we share ideas with each other.” But if DARE doesn’t reduce drug use, why do other programs show promise? The problem with DARE may not be the message, Rohrbach said, but rather the people who teach it: police officers. Having a strong authority figure talk about drugs may encourage kids to tell the officer what they think he wants to hear, rather than reach a decision themselves. “The programs that are showing promise use small groups, the Socratic method: Clarify misinformation, but never tell kids what the right answer is,” she said. “That takes skill and a special person. Even with the best training, an officer is probably not the best because of the authority they have.” Rohrbach said DARE has been asked to experiment: Compare short- and long-term results when an officer and a teacher use the DARE program in similar classes. But DARE officials have refused, she said. Others question the police-only policy. “There’s a lot of money being made (in DARE) at a higher level for trademarked information,” said Steven Chung, Sumpter Township Police Commander. “If you have the paraprofessionals and more people allowed to teach it, it would be more successful.”Officers lend credibility But having DARE taught by a police officer is “the magic that brings it to life,” said Glenn Levant, DARE America director. “It would be difficult to find a teacher credible on the subject of substance abuse. The kids know more than the staff. You can’t just show them a video.” DARE supporters say the program has other benefits, including improving kids’ self-esteem. Rohrbach says there’s no evidence of that. Instead, it may be the confidence kids get when they give the answer the instructor wants to hear. “They may observe that, but that doesn’t mean it’s true,” Rohrbach said. “Self-esteem is really hard to measure, and there’s no study I know that shows that.” While Rohrbach and others are optimistic that there is a new generation of programs that may work, others aren’t so sure, saying they may turn out to be just as ineffective. “The larger issue is, why do we have so many large-scale programs, and the educational community has so little to do with it?” said Joel Brown, director of the Center for Education Research and Development in Berkley, Calif. “Our research was born of us being tired of all the calls from parents asking us, ‘What works?’ We had no answers. But we’re not trying to sell anything.” In a study he plans to publish later this year, Brown said the effectiveness of many popular new programs should be questioned. For example, one program’s self evaluation changed methodology midstream and dropped 40 percent of the test sample — yet no one has challenged the researcher’s conclusion that the program is effective, he said. It’s the one area Levant agrees: “(Several programs) are evaluated by the owner and the author of the program,” he said. “That smacks of conflict of interest to me.”Zero use vs. responsibility The other problem, some researchers say, is that most grant money is earmarked for zero use programs, such as DARE. Little is available for programs that emphasize responsible use, which advocates no use, but emphasizes consequences and warning signs. It’s a familiar message when it comes to alcohol: Don’t drink and drive, use a designated driver, know the symptoms of alcohol poisoning. Or the safe sex messages: Abstain, but if you don’t, use a condom. But that’s a politically tough message to sell, when you’re talking about teen-agers and drugs. Nearly a decade ago, congressional researchers called for more so-called responsible use programs. “There is no evidence that the no-use approach is more successful than alternative approaches, or even successful in its own right,” said a Government Accounting Office report. “The long-range objective of reducing drug use will be better served... by considering a wider range of possible approaches.” The GAO has not done a similar evaluation since, in part because the responsible use idea created an uproar in Congress. Another common drug policy feature that makes educators and researchers bristle is zero tolerance — an offshoot of zero use. Zero tolerance means a student caught in virtually any alcohol or drug offense can be kicked out of school or prosecuted. “Zero tolerance stands for zero intelligence,” said Bill MacFarland, Crestwood schools assistant superintendent in Dearborn Heights. “Kids need to know there are consequences for misbehavior, but we have to operate from a standpoint of forgiveness and redemption. Easy answers should always make you question the person giving them.”Giving kids things to do In the meantime, some schools say they have had some success with distraction programs — making sure kids have things to do, especially high-energy, risk-taking activities, such as organized travel, skiing or skateboarding. “You need to offer other options,” said Dearborn Heights DARE officer Ed Garcia. “Whether it’s a sports program or an intramural program, it needs to include more than just the police.” Parents say they have had some luck taking an active role — almost a new twist on responsible use: Kids may experiment with drugs or alcohol, but an active parent network can help limit the damage. As members of the Clarkston Community Task Force for Youth, for example, parents, kids, business leaders and others in the community talk monthly about ways to get kids active in the community — even have rave alternative parties — and limit the draw of drugs. “We have a strong no use message,” task force coordinator Cindy Dixon said. “But a lot of parents want to tell kids to straighten up and quit doing drugs. Kids block that out.” “Were aiming for relationships... and we’re in it for the long haul. Other parents agreed. “It’s really up to the parents to do their part,” said Detroit parent Jennette Williams, 23. To communicate with our reporters concerning this special report, send e-mail to car detnews.comSecond of Two Parts:Published: Monday, February 28, 2000 Copyright © 2000, The Detroit NewsCannabisNews Search & Archives of DARE Related Topics:Anti-Drug Program Ineffective, Newspaper Study Say - Part 1http://www.cannabisnews.com/news/thread4884.shtmlhttp://www.cannabisnews.com/news/list/DARE.shtmlhttp://www.alltheweb.com/cgi-bin/asearch?type=all&query=cannabisnews+DARE Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #2 posted by FoM on February 28, 2000 at 09:38:30 PT How's This? Hi kaptinemo and everyone, You're welcome. I'm very happy to be able to help. It does make me feel good when I make someone happy! What I've done here is an experiment. The DARE series is 2 days and some of the articles weren't worth a direct post in Cannabis News but the information should be seen so I took my EZBoard and added the other articles from today and will go and add the others later on today from yesterdays articles. Hope you all like this idea.Peace, FoM!http://pub3.ezboard.com/fdrugpolicytalkseriesnewsarticles.showMessage?topicID=2.topic [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on February 28, 2000 at 08:35:01 PT Thanks again, FoM! We'd be stumbling about in the dark, stubbing our toes, were it not for your dilligence in re-printing these articles.When I worked for the Feds, it seemed that every year they would spend enormous sums of money sending us off to seminars run by cheerleading 'motivational speakers' who had sold the government the latest in leadership concept seminars. You know, things like 'Transactional Analysis'. 'Theory Z of Management'. 'Total Quality Management'. 'The One-Minute Manager'. Stuff like that. I often commented to my fellow workers that I wish I had been given the smarts to dream up this crap and market it; I'd never had had to honestly work again. Seems like the developers of DARE had exactly the same idea - and as much success - as the management theory peddlers have had.'And some experts warn of a cozy relationship between prevention program creators, evaluators and those who stand to make money by selling programs. They say millions are spent every year on programs that may work no better than DARE, an acronym for Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education.'and:'The problem with DARE may not be the message, Rohrbach said, but rather the people who teach it: police officers. Having a strong authority figure talk about drugs may encourage kids to tell the officer what they think he wants to hear, rather than reach a decision themselves.' And: 'Rohrbach said DARE has been asked to experiment: Compare short- and long-term results when an officer and a teacher use the DARE program in similar classes. But DARE officials have refused, she said.'Talk about deja vu; almost excatly what was said a few submissions ago by our readers here. Special interests. The words conjure up all sorts of images: Greedy CEOs of major corporations sitting around a table, plotting how to use their PR apparatus to insert their own agendas into public policy and increase both their wealth and power at public expense. All under the old rubric of 'What's good for General Motors is good for America'. And needless to say, they want to be able to trash their competition, who operate the same way, or even worse... trash the *real* public policy groups who are genuinely concerned for the public weal. It's been obvious for a long time that DARE is exactly like the above mentioned CEOs. They have their publicly stated agendas of 'saving the children(!!!!)' - and their private ones of maintaining their economic base and therefore, their power. And they will do whatever it takes to do just that. Even if it means turning our children into junior narcs. [ Post Comment ] Post Comment Name: Optional Password: E-Mail: Subject: Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message] Link URL: Link Title: