Pubdate: Fri, 09 Aug 2002
Source: Cincinnati Post (OH)
Copyright: 2002 The Cincinnati Post
Contact:  http://www.cincypost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/87
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.)

DAYTON OFFICIALS MAY SCRAP D.A.R.E. ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM

DAYTON - Dayton may kill its D.A.R.E. anti-drug program because of growing 
evidence it does not prevent drug abuse among schoolkids, police Chief 
William McManus said Thursday.

"Recent studies have raised questions about whether we could be putting our 
resources to better use, but we haven't decided to cut the program yet," 
McManus said.

If Dayton cuts D.A.R.E., it will return its $64,000 annual grant for the 
program from the state attorney general's office.

The seven police staffers - one sergeant and six officers - in the program 
would be re-assigned to street patrol.

McManus' statement came a day after Cincinnati City Council voted 6-3 to 
stop funding the program in area schools once its contract expires in December.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program trains police officers to teach 
elementary school students to recognize and avoid the pressures that lead 
to drug abuse.

More than a dozen national studies have shown that the program does little 
to prevent substance abuse among students. The latest study, issued 
Saturday by researchers at the University of North Carolina, disclosed that 
programs such as D.A.R.E. with "just say no" messages have not yielded 
results that schools should expect.

"There's no scientific rationale whatsoever for maintaining D.A.R.E. in the 
schools," said Denise Hallfors, a substance abuse prevention researcher at 
the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, a nonprofit group. She 
was at the University of North Carolina when she conducted the research.

"It's not a very good use of taxpayer money," she said.

Charles Parsons, executive director of D.A.R.E. America, said Hallfors' 
study refers to D.A.R.E.'s old curriculum that is no longer used.

The program began in 1983 as a joint effort between the Los Angeles Police 
Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

About 80 percent of the nation's school districts use D.A.R.E., but the 
number is dropping. Seattle and Spokane, Wash.; Austin and Houston, Texas, 
and Omaha, Neb., have stopped using the program, amid doubts about its 
effectiveness.

Regionally, the D.A.R.E. program has its supporters.

Children from Xenia, Beavercreek, Fairborn and other Greene County 
communities spent this week at a camp designed to reinforce D.A.R.E. 
principles.

The camp, arranged by the Greene County Sheriff's Office, is meant to 
reward D.A.R.E. participants, officials said.

Greene County D.A.R.E. programs rely heavily on fund-raisers and grants.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom