Pubdate: Mon, 19 Mar 2001 Source: Report Magazine (CN BC) Copyright: 2001 Report Magazine, United Western Comm Ltd Contact: http://www.report.ca Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1327 Note: This is the BC Edition Author: Terry O'Neill REDESIGNING DARE But Promised Changes To The Popular Anti-Drug Abuse Program Will Not Silence Its Critics As coach of his 11-year-old son's house-league hockey team, David Hoffman of Hornepayne, Ont., is used to hearing the odd bawdy comment in the locker room, even from players so young. What he was not prepared for, however, was a recent outburst of jokes, taunts and mock bragging all related to hard-drug use. "I was staggered," says the railway engineer and father of seven What he says accounted for the sudden prepubescent fixation on heroin and crack cocaine shocked him even more; a new anti-drug program then being offered in an elementary school many of the players attend. What Mr. Hoffman did not know, however, is that the internationally popular program, known as DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), has come under increasing criticism in recent years, not only for failing to deter drug use but also, in some cases, for seeming to encourage it. Last month DARE officials in the U.S. finally answered their critics by announcing a plan to develop a new anti-drug strategy they hope will be more successful. Founded in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department, DARE uses police officers to lead anti-drug programs in classes of children as young as 10. Some 75% of U.S. school districts have embraced DARE, and the program is also employed in 54 other countries, including Canada. National usage figures here are not available, but in B.C., for example, 270 officers are qualified to offer the program. RCMP Corporal Sharon Cooke, DARE training coordinator for the province, says it is offered in 90 communities, 58 school districts and 228 schools. "What we can do is we can give [students] the skills so they will know what the drug will do to them, and what the consequences will be [if they choose to use them]," she says. But critics have identified serious problems with the program. Some say its "just-say-no" message is too simplistic, and that there is no evidence it has any beneficial effect. Others say that, in familiarizing children with drugs, the program actually breaks down barriers to drug use. (A similar argument is often heard in connection with sex education and sexual activity.) Still others point to the November death of Vancouver Island Mountie Barry Schneider, a DARE coordinator, who accidentally overdosed on heroin and cocaine he stole from a police lock-up. If DARE failed to prevent even such an "expert" as Constable Schneider from using drugs, how can it possibly work for children? Deeper still, some observers see within DARE a child-centred, values-clarification model that they contend is rooted in the mistaken belief that children should always be trusted to make decisions for themselves. Reached in her St. Louis office, prominent U.S. social commentator Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum contends DARE never actually tells children that drug use is morally wrong. "Their bottom line is, 'Kids make up your own mind,'" she says. Cpl. Cooke answers, "Without a doubt, the DARE program is a no-use program. "However, the officer does not directly contradict the U.S. commentator's complaint that DARE fails to assert a moral position. Ontario parent Hoffman, a Roman Catholic who sends his children to a Catholic school, feels DARE is anti-Christian. For example, its literature states children have the right to be happy. "Happiness in itself is not a goal in Christian life," he explains, "but rather exists as a by-product of having the joy promised by God for those who abide in him. In other words, the right to be happy is not a teaching found in any Catholic catechism, and this approach is misleading our students as to their responsibility and in this aspect of their moral development." Furthermore, Mr. Hoffman points out that DARE presents children with the idea that social and personal problems can be overcome by one's own human powers alone. "This ideology, sometimes referred to as secular humanism, is not compatible with the teaching of the Church, "he states in a letter to the school. As a result of his disagreements with DARE, Mr. Hoffman has withdrawn his child from the program. Mr. Hoffman joins Mrs. Schlafly in saying that the modest changes proposed for DARE (such as employing group discussion and aiming the program at older children) do not go far enough. "Even if they clean it up," the Ontario parent concludes, "I would have to say that it still doesn't measure up to my educational standards." - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk