Pubdate: Thu, 03 Feb 2000
Date: 02/03/2000
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Author: Robert Sharpe

Dennis Rosenbaum, a professor at the University of Illinois at
Chicago, recently completed a six-year study of 1,798 students and
found that "DARE had no long-term effects on a wide range of drug use
measures"; DARE does not "prevent drug use at the stage in adolescent
development when drugs become available and are widely used, namely
during the high school years"; and DARE may actually be
counterproductive.

According to the study, "There is some evidence of a boomerang effect
among suburban kids. That is, suburban students who were DARE
graduates scored higher than suburban students in the control group on
all four major drug-use measures."

Robert Sharpe,
Washington