Pubdate: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 Source: Beacon Journal, The (OH) Copyright: 2001 The Beacon Journal Publishing Co. Contact: 44 E. Exchange Street, P.O. Box 640, Akron OH 44328 Fax: (330) 996-3520 Feedback: http://www.ohio.com/bj/editorial/vop.html Website: http://www.ohio.com/bj/ Forum: http://krwebx.infi.net/webxmulti/cgi-bin/WebX?abeacon DARE TO IMPROVE UA PROJECT AIMS TO CONFRONT DRUG USE BY OLDER KIDS How do you prevent children and adolescents from abusing drugs, and when is the best time to reach them? At bottom, those are issues of first priority in a society bedeviled by drug abuse and in which enticing new drugs seem to sprout faster than dragon's teeth. It is no surprise, then, that programs that target drug abuse among youngsters attract close scrutiny. To answer the easier question: The best time to reach youngsters is before peer pressure and false sophistication prompt them to experiment with drugs. On that basis, school-based programs have become popular vehicles for drug-abuse prevention campaigns. Of those programs, the 18-year-old DARE, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, used by about 75 percent of school districts nationwide, is the best known. Using police officers who make weekly classroom appearances, DARE offers lessons to fifth- and sixth-graders about recognizing and resisting the pressure to use drugs. How effective is DARE in preventing adolescent drug use? Not very, according to researchers who say the program's impact fades as children get older. By their senior year in high school, students who went through DARE are just as likely to use illegal drugs as those who didn't. Critics argue the program, largely a holdover from the ``Just Say No'' approach of the 1980s, is too simple, does not focus on older children who are more likely to be making those decisions and relies on lectures instead of more effective interactive methods, such as role-playing and discussion. Also, the prevalence of drug abuse among teen-agers is confirmation that DARE, even if it were unquestionably effective, wouldn't be adequate to the task. For example, a study last year showed declining use of tobacco products, crack and powder cocaine among teen-agers. At the same time, the use of ecstasy increased across the board, as did heroin among 12th-graders and steroids among 10th-graders. It isn't the shortcomings of DARE alone that offer an incentive to find improvements. Illegal drug labs are springing up in residential basements in Akron and elsewhere, the manufacturing process often as easy as following instructions on a Web site. The challenge of finding a prevention program that is effective has been taken up by the University of Akron's Institute for Health and Social Policy, whose new program builds on DARE's content and extensive network of schools. The UA program will target older children in the seventh and ninth grades and use interactive methods that have proved effective in other abuse-prevention programs, for example, encouraging students to question their own assumptions about drug use. A $13.5 million grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will permit the program to be implemented and evaluated in five cities across the country over the next five years. DARE, critics contend, basked too long in the glow of novelty, without the candid and rigorous evaluation that would have identified its weaknesses sooner. The controlled program and critical evaluation that the UA program promises should help build a more effective model. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart