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D.A.R.E.

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Is the D.A.R.E. program good for America's kids (K-12)?

D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) administers a school-based substance abuse prevention program in 80% of US school districts and in 43 countries (as of 2008). As of 2009, the program had trained over 50,000 police officers to teach its program every year to 36 million K-12 students worldwide - 26 million in the US alone.

Supporters argue that D.A.R.E. has helped millions of kids find alternatives to drug abuse. They say that kids and parents like the program, and that it fosters valuable relationships between police, family, and schools.

Critics argue that scientific evidence shows no significant difference between future drug use in kids who have "graduated" from the costly D.A.R.E. program and those who have not. They say D.A.R.E. is misleading and can increase student drug use. Read more...

D.A.R.E. ProCon.org is a nonpartisan, nonprofit website that presents facts, studies, and pro and con statements related to whether or not D.A.R.E. is good for America's kids.

Did You Know?

Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama have all declared one day each year to be National D.A.R.E. Day. [15]
The D.A.R.E. curriculum had been excluded from the US Department of Education's National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices because it did not have a "scientifically tested," "evidence-based" curriculum. In Aug. 2009, D.A.R.E. changed to a curriculum that is included in the registry. [16][17]
As of 2008, the D.A.R.E. program was taught in all 50 states and in 43 countries, reaching 36 million kids a year - 26 million in the US alone. [1][2]

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Pro & Con Arguments: "Is the D.A.R.E. program good for America's kids (K-12)?"

PRO D.A.R.E. program

D.A.R.E. gives kids the resources they need to resist the temptation of drug abuse. A 2009 study (381 KB) of D.A.R.E.'s "Take Charge of Your Life" coursework showed that D.A.R.E. graduates who had used marijuana in the 7th grade had reduced or eliminated their marijuana use by the 11th grade. [7]
A 2002 privately-funded study from the University of Akron concluded that D.A.R.E. was successful in teaching kids how to refuse drugs. D.A.R.E. graduates had a 5% increase in refusal skills compared to those who had not taken the program. [8]
The D.A.R.E. program exposes kids to drug abuse prevention awareness that goes beyond the resources traditional school and family settings provide. [1]
D.A.R.E. allows greater social interaction between police officers and children. Results from a 2007 study (133 KB) indicates that students prefer police officers as instructors, suggesting that programs delivered by police officers, such as D.A.R.E., are more likely to have a positive impact. [23]
Unlike most other substance abuse prevention programs, the main D.A.R.E. curriculum is usually taught to kids around 11 years old, the ideal age to start teaching kids about drugs.
D.A.R.E. is popular with kids and parents. A 2007 survey (1.6 MB) by the Canadian government showed 95% of 5,376 kids surveyed felt the program helped them "decide against using drugs in the future" and 99% of 3,095 parents surveyed showed "very positive support" for D.A.R.E. and felt their children "benefited from the program." [24]
In Aug. 2009, the D.A.R.E. program overcame criticisms that it was ineffective by implementing a more flexible curriculum that is proven to be "research-based" and "effective." [9]
Critics who say the D.A.R.E. program is worthless neglect the fact that one of the program's more valuable results is the positive relationship it fosters among police, families, and schools. [10]
There is not one drug prevention program that is 100% successful. D.A.R.E. helps students to make sensible decisions about drugs in the face of a drug-friendly culture and societal pressures from peers, movies, books, and television. [10]
Some studies critical of D.A.R.E. are themselves flawed because they are not peer-reviewed or the authors are biased against the program and in favor of their own drug abuse prevention program curricula.

CON D.A.R.E. program

The popularity of the program camouflages the fact that it does not work. Evidence from over 30 studies concluded D.A.R.E. "does not prevent drug use" in students and D.A.R.E. graduates "are indistinguishable from students who do not participate in the program." [5]
A peer-reviewed, six-year study published in 1998 concluded that suburban students who participated in D.A.R.E. reported a 3%-5% higher rate of drug use than suburban students who did not participate. [11]
The one-size-fits-all D.A.R.E. curriculum does little to prepare kids for the real and complex drug choices they are likely to face.
Police officers are ineffective as D.A.R.E. instructors because they have limited teaching experience and strained relationships with some parts of the community. [5]
Of over 500 parents of teens surveyed in 2006 (941 KB) by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, only 5% believed the D.A.R.E. program was responsible for keeping kids drug-free, ranking below parents, schools, church, and law enforcement. [25]
A 2009 study showed that, after four years, 31% of both D.A.R.E. graduates and non-graduates used marijuana. [7]
Students say that the D.A.R.E. message is repeated so often at school that the concept has lost its meaning and become tedious. [12]
Despite changes made to the D.A.R.E. program, between 2000 and 2009, the rates of drug use among participants of the "New D.A.R.E." program are the same as those taught under the original, ineffective program. [13]
Some parents become less involved with their kids' education in drug abuse awareness because they believe D.A.R.E. is doing it for them. [14]
Although the D.A.R.E. program may have some immediate beneficial effects on students' knowledge about drugs and their attitudes towards police, those effects dissipate and are gone typically within one to two years. [5]

Background: "Is the D.A.R.E. program good for America's kids (K-12)?"

Officer Steven Havens Oneonta Police Department teaching students D.A.R.E

(Click to enlarge image)

Officer Steven Havens of the Oneonta (NY) Police Department teaching students the D.A.R.E. program
Source: "D.A.R.E.," oneonta.ny.us (accessed Jan. 20, 2010)

D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) administers a school-based substance abuse prevention program in 80% of US school districts and in 43 countries (as of 2008). As of 2009, the program had trained over 50,000 police officers to teach its program every year to 36 million K-12 students worldwide - 26 million in the US alone. [1][2]

Supporters argue that D.A.R.E. has helped millions of kids find alternatives to drug abuse. They say that kids and parents like the program, and that it fosters valuable relationships between police, family, and schools.

Critics argue that scientific evidence shows no significant difference between future drug use in kids who have "graduated" from the costly D.A.R.E. program and those who have not. They say D.A.R.E. is misleading and can increase student drug use.

According to a 2008 study (971 KB)

by the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, 28% of US students have tried an illicit drug by the end of 8th grade. [26] That number increases to 47% of all students by the end of high school. The 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (251 KB)

shows that adolescents who received substance use prevention education at school were 2.5% less likely than those who did not to have used illicit drugs (9.7% vs. 12.2%). [27]

D.A.R.E., an international 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is the most popular drug abuse prevention program in the US. [1][2] Its mission is "teaching students good decision making skills to help them lead safe and healthy lives." [3] The program was developed in 1983 by then Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates and then Superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District Harry Handler, PhD. D.A.R.E. was meant "to break the generational cycle of drug abuse, related criminal activity, and arrest." [18] The program focuses primarily on what it calls "gateway" drugs, such as tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and inhalants, which allegedly lead to harder drug use.

The core D.A.R.E. curriculum is a one-semester course taught one hour a week for ten weeks by a trained, uniformed police officer, which ends in a D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony. While the program is taught at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, the curricula is usually given to children in the fifth or sixth grade.

Every sitting US President since 1988 has declared one day each year to be National D.A.R.E. Day through Presidential Proclamation. President Barack Obama declared Apr. 8, 2009 to be National D.A.R.E. Day. [15]

The D.A.R.E. program is funded by both private and federal sources. Its 2008 annual report (3.6 MB)

showed total revenues around $6.6 million (down from $9.7 million in 2000). Licensing royalties alone brought in $3.2 million (49% of total revenues), and D.A.R.E.'s President, Charlie Parsons, made an annual salary of $215,040 while four other executives also earned six-figure salaries. [18][19] In 2001, economist Dr. Edward Shepard estimated that D.A.R.E. costs $1-1.3 billion annually (about $173 to $268 per student per year) to implement nationwide once all related expenses, such as police officer training and services, materials and supplies, school resources, etc., were factored in. [4]

A 2009 peer-reviewed five-year study (381 KB)

by Dr. Zili Sloboda, et al., of over 19,000 students found that D.A.R.E. graduates who had used marijuana in the 7th grade had reduced or eliminated their marijuana use by the 11th grade. [7] However, according to Dr. Dennis Rosenbaum, Director of the Center for Research in Law and Criminal Justice, over 30 studies have concluded that D.A.R.E. "does not prevent drug use" in students and that drug use of program graduates is "indistinguishable from students who do not participate in the program." [5]

One study from 1998 showed that the program increased drug use: "Suburban students who participated in D.A.R.E. reported significantly higher rates 3-5%... of drug use... than suburban students who did not participate in the program." [11] A Jan. 15, 2003 General Accounting Office letter (328 KB)

to Senator Richard Durbin (D-IL) found "no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who received DARE... and students who did not." [28] In a 2001 report, the Office of the Surgeon General said the D.A.R.E. program "does not work" and placed D.A.R.E. under the category of "Ineffective Prevention Programs." [6]

(Click to enlarge image)

Anti-D.A.R.E. protest at the Denver Public Schools Administration building
Source: "Activism Photos," www.kengorman.org (accessed Feb. 17, 2009)

Since 1998, D.A.R.E. had failed to meet federal requirements that its program be "research based" and "effective" in order to receive federal grant money. [22] The Department of Education excluded D.A.R.E. from its 2001 list of "promising and exemplary programs that promote safe, disciplined, and drug-free schools." [16]

Since 2001, D.A.R.E. officials have been developing new curricula to counter this mounting criticism. D.A.R.E. has moved away from former approaches to drug use prevention, such as Nancy Reagan's "Just Say No" program in the 1980's and their own "8 Ways to Say No" program, to include more student interaction and drug prevention coaching with less police officer lecturing. [20]

For example, in Aug. 2009, D.A.R.E. adopted a new curriculum called "keepin' it REAL" which encouraged kids to use the "REAL" method: "Refuse offers to use substances, Explain why you do not want to use substances, Avoid situations in which substances are used, and Leave situations in which substances are used." The new curriculum was considered by the Department of Education to be both "research based" and "effective" and makes D.A.R.E. eligible for federal funding and inclusion in the Department of Education's list of "Evidence-based Programs and Practices." [21]

Video Gallery

(click image to watch video)

One song that D.A.R.E. provides to students
Source: "D.A.R.E. Song (I Will Dare)," www.youtube.com (accessed Jan. 12, 2010)

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