Pubdate: Tue, 02 May 2000 Source: Orange County Register (CA) Copyright: 2000 The Orange County Register Contact: P.O. Box 11626, Santa Ana, CA 92711 Fax: (714) 565-3657 Website: http://www.ocregister.com/ STUDY: DARE USED OFTEN, DOES LITTLE Most public schools continue to use taxpayer-funded drug-prevention programs that have proven to be largely ineffective in reducing drug use among students, according to a study released on Monday. Programs like DARE - or Drug Awareness and Resistance Education - that send police officers into schools to lecture students are used in eight in ten schools despite studies showing they do little to combat drug use, researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill said. The U.S. Department of Education spent $566 million - or about $5 per child - - on drug prevention programs last year. Under a policy adopted in 1998, schools will have to prove the programs have been effective in reducing drug use. But in recent surveys, about half of the seniors say they drink, while a third say they have been intoxicated and nearly one in four say they have smoked marijuana. - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk