Author: M.A. Harmon 
Published: Evaluation Review, 1993 

Methodology: A study to evaluate the effectiveness of D.A.R.E. in Charleston County, South Carolina, involved 341 5th grade students from five schools with D.A.R.E. and 367 from six schools without the D.A.R.E. program. 

Findings: D.A.R.E. students had more negative attitudes against substance use, more assertiveness, and more positive peer associations than the comparison group. The D.A.R.E. students also reported less association with drug-using peers and less alcohol use in the last year. Across all studies, D.A.R.E. students’ attitudes against drug use have consistently been shown to increase and differ significantly from the control students. Because a favorable attitude toward drug use has been shown to predict or correlate with later adolescent drug use, this finding provides some of the most convincing evidence that D.A.R.E. shows promise as a drug prevention strategy.