Drugs Are Really. . .
Sorry, but I can never remember what that actually stands for. Drug Abuse Resistance Education, according to the registration-required Chicago Tribune story, Now many `just say no' to DARE in schools:
Chicago Ridge dropped DARE last year because after 13 years of DARE education there was no corresponding decrease in drug arrests in the community, Police Chief Tim Balderman said."In fact, we had an increase in arrests, all DARE graduates," he said. "I can't tell you how many kids told me DARE introduced them to drugs. The problem with DARE, other than that it's a multimillion dollar conglomerate in the business of selling T-shirts, is that it takes the burden off parents to raise their kids."
Okay, maybe it does really stand for that after all.
The piece is about how the program is losing funding, since it doesn't seem to be having the desired effect.
In 2001, a National Research Council report commissioned by the White House surveyed research on DARE and concluded the program has "little effect" on kids' drug use. That same year, a report from the U.S. surgeon general's office concluded DARE has "little or no deterrent effect on substance abuse."A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill study published last month in Prevention Science concluded not only that DARE was ineffective, but also that it is "not a very good use of taxpayer money."
They should add some faith-based stuff. That's seen as a good use of taxpayer money these days, right?
And I'd written something snarky about Not Me, Not Now a few days ago, but couldn't bring myself to actually post it.
But I'm certain that they're just as good at keeping teenagers from having sex as DARE is at keeping them off drugs.