The popular anti-drug program extends its scope to reach high schoolers

BYLINE: Michael A. Lindenberger

One of the most popular weapons in America's long-running war against drugs is being recalibrated, and the changes planned for D.A.R.E. have drawn support from critics and fans of the program among northeast Tarrant County police officers. 'From my own experience, I never cared for D.A.R.E., but now that they are changing the way they implement it, I might be interested in looking at their curriculum again,' said community services Officer Chris Almonrode of the Roanoke Police Department.

Although D.A.R.E. officials say the program works, Officer Almonrode is not alone in his reservations about Drug Abuse Resistance Education. The program, developed in Los Angeles in the 1980s as a way to introduce police officers into public schools, is the largest drug education program in the country. It operates in 80 percent of American school districts and 50 percent of those in Texas.

Though there is some variation, the program has traditionally focused on fifth-graders and always involves a uniformed officer teaching students about drug and alcohol risks. Among other things, the students are taught to 'just say no' in the 17-week course.

When it is taught correctly, the program works wonders, said Officer Michael Price, 33, of the Richland Hills Police Department. 'I have never met a person who sat through a D.A.R.E. class and wasn't impressed,' Officer Price said. 'I think the people who criticize it don't know what they are talking about. It really bothers me. ... All they do is criticize.

One of the most often cited studies criticizing D.A.R.E was published in 1999 by University of Kentucky psychologist Dr. Ronald Lynam. 'Project D.A.R.E. may be one of the most popular drug education programs in the country, but a new study finds the program has no long-term effect on drug use,' said a news release by the American Psychological Association touting Dr. Lynam's study. His study concluded that 10 years after taking D.A.R.E., graduates of the program were no less likely to use drugs than nonparticipants.

Dave Williams, executive director of the Texas D.A.R.E. Institute, said the curriculum has been revised at least twice since the students monitored by the University of Kentucky study participated.

Some findings

He said more recent research - including a survey of 2,734 Texas ninth-graders - supports his belief that D.A.R.E. helps kids stay off drugs. Among the findings:

*D.A.R.E. graduates were 14.3 percent more likely to have had only 'low drug involvement,' meaning they did not use drugs anymore and that any experimentation had been mild.

*Nongraduates of the program were 39.2 percent more likely to report 'high drug involvement' at the time of the survey.

Tom Fleps, 12, a sixth-grader at Durham Intermediate School in Southlake, said his D.A.R.E. experience in fifth grade was great. 'We got to miss math class,' he said with a smile, before adding that the course also reinforced his desire to stay away from drugs. His friend and classmate, Jonathan Howle, 12, said the class was especially strong in its emphasis on what can happen to drug users. 'I remember the talk about the consequences and the dangers,' he said.

The new curriculum will target ninth-graders, rather than elementary school students. It will become more interactive, D.A.R.E. officials said, and officers will lecture less and 'coach' more.

The curriculum , to be tested among 80 schools, was developed by the Institute for Health and Social Policy at the University of Akron. The pilot programs will be funded by a $ 13.7 million grant from the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation of Princeton, N.J.

Southlake bond broker John Howle, Jonathan's father, said that he understands the new focus on older kids - ninth-graders are more likely to begin experimenting, he said - but that he hopes officials don't discontinue the classes for elementary students. 'You have to focus on the problem before it is a problem, too,' Mr. Howle said.

D.A.R.E. officials say they will not discontinue the education program for elementary students, even as they shift their focus to high school freshman.

Still, even stalwart D.A.R.E. defenders such as Mr. Williams said they welcome D.A.R.E. officials' decision to focus on older students. 'What it amounts to is we were getting into a shouting match with researchers - some say it works and some evaluators say it doesn't work,' he said. Mr. Williams said a turning point came at a conference of policy-makers and drug education experts in Washington, D.C. in 1998, Mr. Williams said.

Broad reach

Officials from the Robert Johnson Woods Foundation and other experts in drug-use prevention agreed that D.A.R.E. delivered its anti-drug messages to more students than any organization in the country, he said.

'They said one thing that we had going for us is that we had very strong replication of the program. The second thing we had is a very extensive network throughout the country,' Mr. Williams said.

He said officials decided then to be open to changing their message. 'D.A.R.E. said, 'If you've got a better message for us to give then let us have it, because our goal is to make a difference to the kids.' And the [foundation] came back and said, 'Why don't you deliver this [new] program instead of what you are doing?''

Officer Price has been teaching D.A.R.E. since 1995, and he and Mr. Williams each said that such a program can't make kids avoid using drugs. Pressures to use, they said, are everywhere. 'We asked this one girl who had gotten in trouble, 'Hey where did we go wrong?' And she said, 'There is nothing you can do to make me not try drugs. You can't stop that. ... But what I did know, the minute I did it, is that I made a terrible mistake.' She told me that that saved her life,' Officer Price said. 'If it wasn't for that fact, I would not be involved in this program. I am not going to waste my life. It is what lets me go to sleep at night.'