Pubdate: Tue, 17 Dec 2002 Source: Times-Picayune, The (LA) Copyright: 2002 The Times-Picayune Contact: http://www.nola.com/t-p/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/848 SAME WAR, NEW TRENCHES During its 19 years of existence, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program has attempted to steer young students away from drugs and alcohol, even as some critics have accused DARE of actually making drugs more attractive. But the law enforcement officers who participate in DARE are keeping up the good fight, doing what they can to help young students stay drug free. They're testing out a new drug-fighting strategy in the New Orleans area that will feature fewer lectures and include high school students, an age group DARE has traditionally ignored in favor of those in elementary and middle schools. The New Orleans area is one of six places in the country testing out DARE's new curriculum. This area has certainly seen more than its share of drug-related crimes in the last two years. The recent trend of young men either shooting one another or maiming and robbing innocent victims while in pursuit of their next heroin fix should have everyone rooting for the new DARE initiative. As with any other initiative, DARE ought to be judged by the results it produces. Many criticisms of the program in the past have been valid, because it hasn't been as effective as officials would like. But standing by passively and watching children get hooked on drugs is not an acceptable option, so the new shift in focus is warranted. If the revamped program works well in our metro area and in other pilot sites, it will be replicated elsewhere in the country. The new curriculum is being used locally at one high school each in Jefferson, Orleans, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Charles parishes and at the middle schools that feed into them. The focus on high school students is a welcome change. For while it's not too early to talk to fifth graders about the ill effects of drugs, talking to them when they're older makes more sense. As supportive as he is of DARE, Capt. Lloyd Dupuy, a DARE officer with the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's office, says it's unrealistic to expect a program that targets fifth-graders to steer them away for drugs for the rest of their lives. "It just doesn't work that way," he says. Now that the focus has switched from younger students to those slightly older and from adults lecturing children to those students staging their own skits and small group discussions, the program should be much more successful. Well, it should be more successful if Louisiana comes up with the money to pay for it. Schools across the state are currently dealing with a $1 million shortfall because the tobacco tax the Legislature designated to pay for DARE didn't become effective until August. That budgeting delay has proved costly, but some local sheriffs are dipping into their own budgets to provide the necessary funding for the rest of this year. It's good that they are doing so. The DARE program will never be 100 percent effective. How successful this new focus will be remains to be seen. But right now at least, it deserves the support of the public and continued funding from the Legislature. - --- MAP posted-by: SHeath(DPFFlorida)