Posted on 08/21/2002 8:38:22 AM PDT by JediGirl
MARIETTA — Many police departments across the nation are discontinuing DARE anti-drug programs because of questions about the program’s effectiveness, but the City of Marietta program is here to stay.
Marietta Police Chief Bobby Moody, a member of Drug Awareness Resistance Education’s National Advisory Board, discounts the critics who argue the program does little to lower drug use by students.
“DARE is important here in Marietta, because there’s a cycle that needs to be broken,” Moody said Thursday. “Now you see second and third generations of families beaten down by drugs. My goal, and the police department’s goal, is to break that cycle.”
DARE was created in 1983 in Los Angeles as an
educational program to teach children about the dangers of drugs. Starting with just 10 officers, over 50,000 officers are now trained and certified to teach the program.
Many departments across the nation — including Cincinnati earlier this month — have ceased funding the program. Cincinnati police provided the program for 92 public and private schools.
The Cincinnati City Council voted to terminate funding when the current contract expires in December.
Metro Atlanta departments have not been immune to the cutbacks. Last August, the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office cut its DARE program for personnel reasons.
Cherokee County Sheriff Roger Garrison said the move was related to costs rather than criticism of the program.
“It’s something we deeply regret,” Garrison said last year. “But we’re at a critical state with employees. We’re struggling to keep sufficient manpower on the roads.”
Other cities that have cut the program recently include Seattle and Spokane, Wash.; Milwaukee; Omaha, Neb.; and Houston and Austin, Texas.
More than a dozen studies indicate the program has little effect on reducing drug or alcohol use.
A study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill of 81 school districts in 11 states released in May 2000 found that school-based drug education efforts suffer from shortages of teacher time and money.
“These programs may be popular with the public and the schools,” Dr. Denise Hallfors, a research associate professor of maternal and child health at UNC, said. “But there is little or no data to show that they have been proven to be strong and effective in combating drug use.”
The study found that almost half of all district coordinators personally spent 10 hours per week or less on substance abuse education and prevention problems.
“It’s not enough for a teacher, a parent, or a police officer to tell school children that drugs are bad for you, don’t use them,” Dr. Hallfors said.
Moody said he does not subscribe to that theory.
“Why DARE?” he asked. “Of all the drug awareness programs I have been exposed to, it is the most effective. In Marietta alone, we have worked with about 8,000 students.”
Marietta elected officials expressed unanimous support of the program.
Councilwoman Betty Hunter said she supports the program wholeheartedly.
“I read about the criticism about a year ago,” she said. “But I think it is a very good program. When I was in seventh grade and in Girl Scouts, a female police officer came to us and spoke to us about the dangers of drugs. What she said made an impression in my mind that I would never use drugs. I feel like any time a child has an opportunity to hear that message and see the results of drug use, it’s a wonderful program.”
Councilman Johnny Sinclair said he supports the program until someone proves he should not.
“I’m for it,” he said. “Show me the figures and I’ll go to Chief Moody and talk to him about what else we need to do. But I won’t change my opinion until I see the figures.”
Marietta police have two full-time DARE officers. The city’s DARE program, originally funded through grants in 1999, operates through the six elementary schools within the city limits.
Officers Charles Simonds and Charles Willix are the department’s two DARE officers. Each works full-time in three of the schools, teaching the program to all fifth graders. Fifth-grade students in Marietta are targeted because fifth grade is the students’ last year of elementary school.
Students participating in the program are given a list of different ways to appropriately say no to drugs based on different circumstances, including peer pressure.
“We rehearse and do role-playing,” Simonds said. “We have kids pretend to make offers and (kids) say no in an appropriate way, and then we switch the roles.”
Currently, the DARE program is a 16-week program of lessons, with a graduation ceremony at its completion.
Students, the officers and their teachers are recognized, and members of the city council, the mayor and the police chief attend the ceremony.
DARE officers are subjected to a GBI background check. Officers are interviewed by the GBI and the school superintendent, and if they are approved, they attend DARE school in Macon for two weeks.
It is good to hear that some DARE programs are being shut down. They're a massive failure, a joke to all kids involved (the biggest thrill is the free candy from Officer Randy) and an all-around waste of money and other resources.
That statement says it all. Either he hasn't been exposed to many drug awareness programs or all "drug awareness programs" are a big joke (I suspect the latter..)
Nah. It's Drug Abuse Resistance Education, even though the article calls it Drug Awareness Resistance Education...
Title of dare.com's webpage: "DARE America - DARE, drug abuse resistance education"
There is no evidence that tobacco use leads to any other illegal drug use.
What's the dif? Many legal drugs like paxil or percodan cause loads of damage to lives and families. The war against illegal drugs is largely concerned with ensuring that the AMA gets its cut for providing addictive drugs. Instead of heroin they push a far worse drug called methadone. They don't like people self-medicating. They lose money.
And don't forget the billions they make with their worthless revolving door treatment programs. The medical profession relys on the war on drugs for a very substantial part of its income.
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