Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) is an education program that seeks to prevent use of controlled drugs, membership in gangs, and violent behavior. It was founded in Los Angeles in 1983 as a joint initiative of then-LAPD chief Daryl Gates and the Los Angeles Unified School District as a demand-side drug control strategy of the American War on Drugs.
Students who enter the program sign a pledge not to use drugs or join gangs and are informed by local police officers about the government's beliefs about the dangers of recreational drug use in an interactive in-school curriculum which lasts ten weeks.
D.A.R.E. America's operating revenue has declined from $10 million in 2002 to $3.7 million in 2010 following the publication of government reports that uniformly discredited the effectiveness of the program. D.A.R.E implemented a new curriculum based on work by Penn State and Arizona State researchers.
Its American headquarters is in Inglewood, California. DARE expanded to Great Britain in 1995. The D.A.R.E. program has received a substantial amount of criticism since its creation.
Organization
Instructors of the D.A.R.E. curriculum are local police officers who must undergo 80 hours of special training in areas such as child development, classroom management, teaching techniques, and communication skills. For high school instructors, 40 hours of additional training are prescribed. Police officers are invited by the local school districts to speak and work with students. Police officers are permitted to work in the classroom by the school district and do not need to be licensed teachers. There are programs for different age levels. Working with the classroom teachers, the officers lead students over a number of sessions on workbooks and interactive discussions.
The Surgeon General reports that positive effects have been demonstrated regarding attitudes towards the police. The D.A.R.E program's use of police officers in schools alleviates some children's concerns about situations like school shootings and other threats of violence to children while at school.
In 2007, a new curriculum for prescription drug abuse and over-the-counter drug abuse was created by D.A.R.E. America. Other contributors included: law enforcement officials; PhRMA; Abbott Laboratories; the Consumer Healthcare and Products Association (CHPA); and a number of other organizations, including the ONDCP, the DEA, the FDA, the NIDA, the SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (SAMHSA/CSAT) and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
In 2009, D.A.R.E. adopted their implementation of Penn State University's keepin' it REAL middle school curriculum, an evidence-based curriculum listed on the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP). keepin' it REAL is now being implemented in the US and worldwide by D.A.R.E. Keepin' it REAL has been developed since the late 90s at Arizona State University as well as at Penn State University.
The program's mascot is a lion named Daren. In various cartoons and media productions, his voice is performed by Michael Glover .
Age groups
Starting in 4th or 6th grade, elementary students are given lessons to act in their own best interest when facing high-risk, low-gain choices and to resist peer pressure and other influences in making their personal choices regarding: Tobacco Smoking, Tobacco advertising, Drug Abuse, Inhalants, alcohol consumption and health, and Peer Pressure in a Social Network.
In 6th, 7th and 8th grades, the new keepin' it REAL middle school lessons are enhanced with activities on Teen OTC (over-the-counter)/Prescription Drug Abuse, Methamphetamine, Bullying, Gangs, Internet Safety, and more. Beginning in the fall of 2009, D.A.R.E. officers across the nation began to teach The keepin’ it REAL program which was developed in partnership with Penn State University.
In senior high school, D.A.R.E. is a reinforcement and "Equal emphasis is placed on helping students to recognize and cope with feelings of anger without causing harm to themselves or others and without resorting to violence or the use of alcohol and drugs."
Participation
According to the D.A.R.E. website, 36 million children around the world â€"26 million in the U.S. â€" are part of the program. The program is implemented in 75% of the nation's school districts, and 43 countries around the world. D.A.R.E. was one of the first national programs promoting zero tolerance.
DARE Car
A number of local police departments D.A.R.E. programs have police cars marked as DARE cars to promote their program. The D.A.R.E. cars appear at schools and in parades. Typically these cars are high-end or performance cars that have been seized in a drug raid. They are used to send the message that drug dealers forfeit all their glamorous trappings when they get caught. D.A.R.E. cars can also be regular police vehicles that are nearing the end of their service life, pressed into service for the promotion, or new police cars outfitted especially for the D.A.R.E. program.
Funding
D.A.R.E. America is funded largely as a crime prevention program working through education within schools. Over the years contributors have included the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Bureau of Justice Administration, U.S. Office of Justice and Delinquency Prevention, corporations, foundations, individuals and other sources. In addition, state training and local programs typically receive funding from state legislature appropriations, state agencies, counties, cities, school districts, police agencies, individuals, and community fund raisers and other sources.
In the United Kingdom
D.A.R.E. programs are now delivered in the UK by Life Skills Education Charity., a community interest company set up in 2011. D.A.R.E. Courses currently available include the D.A.R.E. Primary programme, the secondary school Keepin' it REAL programme, the community-based D.A.R.E. Active programme and the newly updated D.A.R.E. Game.
History
D.A.R.E. began its life in the UK in 1995 after the CEO of Mansfield District Council saw it being delivered in Mansfield Ohio whilst on an exchange visit. The program was fully introduced within Nottinghamshire following 2 years of successful trials. To operate on a more independent basis, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (UK) Ltd was established as a registered charity and delivered it's programmed to over 320,000 young people until the organization was dissolved.
All D.A.R.E. programs were adopted by Life Skills Education C.I.C. with the agreement of D.A.R.E. International in September 2011 and delivery into schools in the East Midlands has continued unaffected.
DARE Primary
DARE Primary is a life skills and drug education program for 9-11-year-olds. The course, consisting of 10 one-hour sessions, aims to provide children with knowledge, skills, and an opportunity to explore attitudes, to help them to make informed decisions, and to develop safe and healthy lifestyles. Topics covered include, tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, volatile substances, bullying, anti-social behavior, and different types of pressure. Children look at normative beliefs about alcohol and tobacco. The sessions are interactive and provide a range of learning opportunities through individual activities, teamwork, discussions, storyboards, and appropriate role play. DARE Primary can be delivered by:
• DARE Officer (Serving or former Police Officer, Police Community Support Officer, or School Officer--- a school liaison officer)
• Teacher and DARE Officer where the Officer attends every other week (called 50/50). It also becomes part of the Health Unit in most schools.
• Teacher delivered (Teachers receive training from DARE)
Each pupil is provided with a DARE workbook for use during the course. DARE Officers and Teachers (where the Teacher delivered option is chosen) are provided with session guides. An important part of the program is the graduation ceremony which is an opportunity for families and schools to celebrate the children's achievements.
The Primary program is now being delivered in the East Midlands, the City of London, part of the Metropolitan Police area, the Falkland Islands and by the Royal Military Police in Germany, Cyprus and Malta.
Evaluation
An independent randomized control sample evaluation of the D.A.R.E. Primary program was carried out in 2015/2016 using a sample of over 50 schools and 1500 young people. The evaluation was carried out by Nottingham Trent University's Professor Andromachi Tseloni and showed that the program had a significantly statistic effect on:
- Increasing knowledge surrounding drugs, alcohol and substance abuse
- Making safe and responsible choices
- Communication and listening
- Getting help from others.
Teachers have routinely rated the programme as 'Good' or 'Outstanding' and parents and young people rate it as 7.5 out of 10 in most cases.
D.A.R.E in the Community (‘DARE Active’)
DARE Active is principally led by DARE Champions, members of the community (professional and nonprofessional) who are actively involved in teaching, training, supporting or coaching young people and are trained and licensed by DARE UK to deliver the resource. DARE Active consists of eight sessions which can be delivered as an eight-week program or stand alone (a modular approach). It includes an optional celebration of achievement where guests can be invited to share the celebration or speak in a role model capacity. This opportunity lends itself to the local Policing teams attending and reinforcing some of the key messages.
Composition of sessions
- Introduction to the program
- The Six Keys to Success
- Team building and positive communication
- How can we work together and value others in order to achieve success
- Self-Esteem and Motivation
- Discipline and Responsibility
- Preparing to attempt a new challenge
- Review and Self-Assessment â€" (celebration for success)
DARE Active student benefits
- Develop key life skills to stay safe, healthy and to make a positive contribution within society
- Set goals with success criteria for their development
- Review and assess their performance
- Raise their self-esteem and develop the skills to maximize their life opportunities
- Become inspired and motivated, to achieve their goals and focused in their lives as a whole
- Be disciplined and take responsibility for their own actions
- Develop support networks and communicate with the networks in a positive manner
- Make informed decisions about health, social and moral dilemmas (e.g. misusing drugs)
- Work within the framework of personal, learning and thinking skills (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority)
DARE Secondary School (keepin’ it REAL)
DARE UK is planning the launch of a Secondary school program during 2011 so it is available during the new academic year, Autumn, 2011. The curriculum and resources (including high-quality DVD) will be an adaptation of the DARE America Middle School program developed by Penn State University, USA. Current developments are taking place to ensure relevance and suitability for the UK.
It will follow on from the DARE Primary curriculum (although this is not essential) and is designed to help young people in years 7 and 8 deal with the many challenges they face during the transition. It is expected that the program will be delivered by teachers and DARE Officers.
Studies on effectiveness
1992 â€" Indiana University
Researchers at Indiana University, commissioned by Indiana school officials in 1992, found that those who completed the D.A.R.E. program subsequently had significantly higher rates of hallucinogenic drug use than those not exposed to the program.
1994 â€" RTI International
In 1994, three RTI International scientists evaluated eight previously-done quantitative analyses on DARE’s efficacy that were found to meet their requirements for rigor. The researchers found that DARE’s long-term effect couldn’t be determined, because the corresponding studies were “compromised by severe control group attrition or contamination.†However, the study concluded that in the short-term “DARE imparts a large amount of information, but has little or no impact on students’ drug use,†and that many smaller, interactive programs were more effective.
After the 1994 Research Triangle Institute study, an article in the Los Angeles Times stated that the “organization spent $41,000 to try to prevent widespread distribution of the RTI report and started legal action aimed at squelching the study.†The director of publication of the American Journal of Public Health told USA Today that "D.A.R.E. has tried to interfere with the publication of this. They tried to intimidate us."
1995 â€" California Department of Education
In 1995, a report to the California Department of Education by Joel Brown Ph. D. stated that none of California's drug education programs worked, including D.A.R.E. "California's drug education programs, D.A.R.E. being the largest of them, simply don't work. More than 40 percent of the students told researchers they were 'not at all' influenced by drug educators or programs. Nearly 70 percent reported neutral to negative feelings about those delivering the antidrug message. While only 10 percent of elementary students responded to drug education negatively or indifferently, this figure grew to 33 percent of middle school students and topped 90 percent at the high school level." In some circles educators and administrators have admitted that DARE in fact potentially increased students exposure and knowledge of unknown drugs and controlled substances, resulting in experimentation and consumption of narcotics at a much younger age. Criticism focused on failure and misuse of tax-payer dollars, with either ineffective or negative result state-wide.
1998 â€" National Institute of Justice
In 1998, a grant from the National Institute of Justice to the University of Maryland resulted in a report to the NIJ, which among other statements, concluded that "D.A.R.E. does not work to reduce substance use." D.A.R.E. expanded and modified the social competency development area of its curriculum in response to the report. Research by Dr. Dennis Rosenbaum in 1998 found that D.A.R.E. graduates were more likely than others to drink alcohol, smoke tobacco and use illegal drugs. Psychologist Dr. William Colson asserted in 1998 that D.A.R.E. increased drug awareness so that "as they get a little older, they (students) become very curious about these drugs they've learned about from police officers." The scientific research evidence in 1998 indicated that the officers were unsuccessful in preventing the increased awareness and curiosity from being translated into illegal use. The evidence suggested that, by exposing young impressionable children to drugs, the program was, in fact, encouraging and nurturing drug use. Studies funded by the National Institute of Justice in 1998, and the California Legislative Analyst's Office in 2000 also concluded that the program was ineffective.
1999 â€" American Psychological Association
A ten-year study was completed by the American Psychological Association in 2006 involving one thousand D.A.R.E. graduates in an attempt to measure the effects of the program. After the ten-year period, no measurable effects were noted. The researchers compared levels of alcohol, cigarette, marijuana and the use of illegal substances before the D.A.R.E. program (when the students were in sixth grade) with the post D.A.R.E. levels (when they were 20 years old). Although there were some measured effects shortly after the program on the attitudes of the students towards drug use, these effects did not seem to carry on long term.
2001 â€" Office of the Surgeon General
In 2001, the Surgeon General of the United States, David Satcher M.D. Ph.D., placed the D.A.R.E. program in the category of "Ineffective Primary Prevention Programs". The U.S. General Accounting Office concluded in 2003 that the program was sometimes counterproductive in some populations, with those who graduated from D.A.R.E. later having higher than average rates of drug use (a boomerang effect).
2007 â€" Perspectives on Psychological Science
In March 2007, the D.A.R.E. program was placed on a list of treatments that have the potential to cause harm in clients in the APS journal, Perspectives on Psychological Science.
2008 â€" Harvard
Carol Weiss, Erin Murphy-Graham, Anthony Petrosino, and Allison G. Gandhi, “The Fairy Godmotherâ€"and Her Warts: Making the Dream of Evidence-Based Policy Come True,†American Journal of Evaluation, Vol. 29 No.1, 29â€"47(2008) Evaluators sometimes wish for a Fairy Godmother who would make decision makers pay attention to evaluation findings when choosing programs to implement. The U.S. Department of Education came close to creating such a Fairy Godmother when it required school districts to choose drug abuse prevention programs only if their effectiveness was supported by "scientific" evidence. The experience showed advantages of such a procedure (e.g., reduction in support for D.A.R.E., which evaluation had found wanting) but also shortcomings (limited and in some cases questionable evaluation evidence in support of other programs). Federal procedures for identifying successful programs appeared biased. In addition, the Fairy Godmother discounted the professional judgment of local educators and did little to improve the fit of programs to local conditions. Nevertheless, giving evaluation more clout is a worthwhile way to increase the rationality of decision making. The authors recommend research on procedures used by other agencies to achieve similar aims.
2009 â€" Texas A&M
“The Social Construction of ‘Evidence-Based’ Drug Prevention Programs: A Reanalysis of Data from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) Program,†Evaluation Review, Vol. 33, No.4, 394â€"414 (2009). Studies by Dennis Gorman and Carol Weiss argue that the D.A.R.E. program has been held to a higher standard than other youth drug prevention programs. Gorman writes, “what differentiates D.A.R.E. from many of the programs on evidence-based lists might not be the actual intervention but rather the manner in which data analysis is conducted, reported, and interpreted.†Dennis M. Gorman and J. Charles Huber, Jr.
As the D.A.R.E. program has been subjected to increasing scrutiny over the years, its overall effectiveness has become something of a controversy and is still much debated.
The U.S. Department of Education prohibits any of its funding to be used to support drug prevention programs that have not been able to demonstrate their effectiveness. Accordingly, D.A.R.E. America, in 2004, instituted a major revision of its curriculum which is currently being evaluated for possible effectiveness in reducing drug use.
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) identified alternative start-up regional programs, none of which have longevity nor have they been subjected to intense scrutiny.
Intervention registries
2006 SAMSHA/NREPP
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and mental health Services, National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices reviewed D.A.R.E.’s Keepin’ it REAL curricula. It meets NREPP's requirements as an evidence-based intervention in the categories of tobacco, alcohol, and drug use.
2005 California's Healthy Kids Resource Center
2005 The California Department of Education and California Department of Health’s Healthy Kids Resource Center lists D.A.R.E.’s keepin’ it REAL curriculum as being research validated.
Criticism
The D.A.R.E. program is consistent with the "zero-tolerance orthodoxy of current U.S. drug control policy." According to researcher Dr. D. M. Gorman of the Rutgers University Center of Alcohol Studies, it supports the ideology and the “prevailing wisdom that exists among policy makers and politicians." When the LA Unified School District announced they were ceasing the use of zero tolerance policies over concerns at disproportionate use against racial minorities, California DARE Coordinator Steve Abercrombie expressed displeasure, saying "I'm surprised they don't hand [cannabis] out when they hand out their workbooks."
It also claims to meet the needs of stake holders such as school districts, parents, and law enforcement agencies. "D.A.R.E. America also has been very successful in marketing its program to the news media through a carefully orchestrated public relations campaign that highlights its popularity while downplaying criticism."
Psychologists at the University of Kentucky concluded that "continued enthusiasm [for D.A.R.E.] shows Americans' stubborn resistance to apply science to drug policy."
Marsha Rosenbaum, who headed the West Coast office of the Lindesmith Center, a drug policy reform organization, provided an opinion for a 1999 Village Voice article, "In D.A.R.E.'s worldview, Marlboro Light cigarettes, Bacardi rum, and a drag from a joint are all equally dangerous. For that matter, so is snorting a few lines of cocaine." D.A.R.E. "isn't really education. It's indoctrination." The article also stated, "Part of what makes D.A.R.E. so popular is that participants get lots of freebies. There are fluorescent yellow pens with the D.A.R.E. logo, tiny D.A.R.E. dolls, bumper stickers, graduation certificates, D.A.R.E. banners for school auditoriums, D.A.R.E. rulers, pennants, D.A.R.E. coloring books, and T-shirts for all D.A.R.E. graduates."
D.A.R.E. has failed to fact check some articles on their website, promoting one news piece that was satire, titled "Edible Marijuana Candies Kill 9 in Colorado, 12 at Coachella."
Use of children as informants
"Children are asked to submit to D.A.R.E. police officers sensitive written questionnaires that can easily refer to the kids' homes" and that "a D.A.R.E. lesson called 'The Three R's: Recognize, Resist Report' … encourages children to tell friends, teachers or police if they find drugs at home."
In addition, "D.A.R.E. officers are encouraged to put a 'D.A.R.E. Box' in every classroom, into which students may drop 'drug information' or questions under the pretense of anonymity. Officers are instructed that if a student 'makes a disclosure related to drug use,' the officer should report the information to further authorities, both school, and police. This apparently applies whether the 'drug use' was legal or illegal, harmless or harmful. In a number of communities around the country, students have been enlisted by the D.A.R.E. officer as informants against their parents."
"In the official D.A.R.E. Implementation Guide, police officers are advised to be alert for signs of children who have relatives who use drugs. D.A.R.E. officers are first and foremost police officers and thus are duty-bound to follow up leads that might come to their attention through inadvertent or indiscreet comments by young children."
As a result, children sometimes confide the names of people they suspect are illegally using drugs. In October 2010, an elementary school student in North Carolina brought cannabis to school to turn his parents in.
Responses to criticism
Motivation of the critics
D.A.R.E. America has generally dismissed many criticisms and independent studies of its program, labeling them false, misleading, or biased. "D.A.R.E. has long dismissed criticism of its approach as flawed or the work of groups that favor decriminalization of drug use," according to the New York Times in 2001. In a press release titled "Pro-drug Groups Behind Attack on Prevention Programs; D.A.R.E. Seen as Target as Mayors' Conference Called to Combat Legalization Threat," D.A.R.E. asserted that pro-drug legalization individuals and groups were behind criticisms of the program, which were portrayed as based on "vested interests" and "to support various individual personal agendas at the expense of our children."
D.A.R.E. has attacked critics for allegedly being motivated by their financial self-interest in programs that compete with D.A.R.E. It has charged that "they are setting out to find ways to attack our programs and are misusing science to do it. The bottom line is that they don't want police officers to do the work because they want it for themselves." Critics have also been dismissed as being jealous of D.A.R.E.'s success.
Rebuttal of statistics
Ronald J. Brogan, New York City's D.A.R.E. fundraiser, and spokesperson said in 1999 that "If you take German for 17 weeks, you're not going to speak German. The critics say the effect dissipates over the years. The article in which he was quoted observed that "DARE officials say the solution to this problem is not less DARE but more of it, and they urge cities to teach DARE in middle and high school."
One leader explained that "I don't have any statistics for you. Our strongest numbers are the numbers that don't show up.†The 1998 University of Maryland report presented to the U.S. National Institute of Justice stated, "Officials of D.A.R.E. America are often quoted as saying that the strong public support for the program is a better indicator of its utility than scientific studies."
New curriculum
In 2009, D.A.R.E. adopted the keepin’ it REAL curriculum. Rather than solely focusing on the perils of alcohol and drugs, keepin’ it REAL utilizes socio-emotional learning theory and a life skills approach to conceptualize substance use resistance as a situated, contextualized process and emphasizes communication competence as central to effective resistance strategies. keepin’ it REAL uses a culturally grounded approach that acknowledges the importance of cultural differences and similarities in the effectiveness of communication strategies and norms surrounding substance use. The program was developed by Penn State researchers, who evaluated its effectiveness, though critics contend the program does not implement a long-term evaluation system. In 2013, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration ranked its “readiness for dissemination†at 1.5 out of 4. Two field randomized controlled trials showed the effectiveness of the multicultural keepin’ it REAL for reducing substance use across grade levels and ethnic/racial groups, which highlights the importance of grounding substance use prevention programs in their audiences’ cultural attitudes, values, norms, and beliefs. The second study "evaluated onset of drug use across and within ethnic groups and the ideal times to intervene" finding "a double dose of intervention in elementary and middle school was no more effective than middle school intervention alone."
â€"Following the passing of Washington Initiative 502 that legalized cannabis consumption in Washington state, the D.A.R.E program was changed in the state to remove cannabis messages from their year 5 curriculum, arguing "research has found that teaching children about drugs with which they have never heard of or have no real life understanding may stimulate their interest or curiosity about the substance."
References
External links
- Drug Abuse Resistance Education home page
- DARE World
- How to Start a DARE Program in your Community
- International Association of Chiefs of Police, IACP
- 2003 U.S. General Accounting Office letter to Senator Richard J. Durbin
- A Different Look at D.A.R.E.
- UK website
- Training Center Minas Gerais / D.A.R.E. Brazil (PROERD)
- D.A.R.E. Brazil (PROERD)
- Official Keepin' It Real website
- Alamo Area / Bexar County D.A.R.E.
- ASU's official Keepin' it REAL website
