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DARE DOESN'T WORK

I'm writing about Theresa Gardner's: "DARE TO SAY NO" ( 4-11-06 ).

Common sense tells us that the DARE program should deter our youth from using illegal drugs.  But it doesn't.  DARE graduates are more likely to use illegal drugs--not less.  Common sense tells us that the Earth is the center of the universe and our solar system.  But it's not.

Common sense tells us that prohibiting a product should substantially reduce the use of the product that's prohibited.

Actually, prohibition tends to substantially increase the desire for the product that's prohibited.

Before marijuana was criminalized in the U.  S.  via the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, the vast majority of Americans had never heard of marijuana.  Now everybody in the U.  S.  knows what marijuana is and the U.  S.  government estimates that at least 90 million Americans have used it.  About half of all high school students will use it before they graduate.

People want what they are told they cannot have -- especially children.  The lure of the "forbidden fruit" is very powerful.

Kirk Muse

Mesa, AZ