Posted on 11/30/2007 12:33:44 PM PST by Daffynition
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. (AP) ― Suffolk County's police department is dropping DARE, the widespread school anti-drug program that has faced questions about its effectiveness, the police commissioner said.
Commissioner Richard Dormer said Thursday he aimed to replace DARE with another drug-prevention program, but some local lawmakers objected to the idea.
With the change, set to take effect in January, the large Long Island county's police force will join a series of school districts and law enforcement agencies that have abandoned the program, formally known as Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Schools and police forces work together to offer it.
After nearly 20 years in Suffolk County, DARE isn't working, Dormer told local lawmakers Thursday. The program's 26 police officers teach fifth- and seventh-graders about the dangers of drugs, spending an hour a week in a given classroom for 10 weeks.
Students "are tuning us out, and that's why we haven't reduced drug use in our society," Dormer told the County Legislature's Public Safety Committee.
Instead of DARE, Dormer wants to add police participation to HealthSmart, a general health and safety program now taught in various school districts. He plans to assign 10 of the current DARE officers to the new program.
Three Republican lawmakers said students would be shortchanged by Dormer's plan.
"Please tell me how less is better," said Legislator Lynne Nowick, of St. James.
Launched in Los Angeles in 1983, DARE is offered in 75 percent of the nation's school districts, according to the organization.
But a 2003 U.S. Government Accountability Office analysis of several studies concluded DARE had "no statistically significant long-term effect on preventing illicit drug use."
The national DARE organization disputes the studies and says the program has changed to become more effective. DARE representatives did not immediately return a telephone message left early Friday at their Inglewood, Calif., headquarters.
Suffolk County, on eastern Long Island, has a population estimated at more than 1.4 million.
I swear. Morons. Is this the best the GOP can do?
Please tell me, Lynne, how repeating the same mistakes is better. If it's not working after 20 years, it's time to replace it.
I say discontinue it. See Post #1.
“These are drugs. One of the side effects is a feeling of euphoria. But don’t take them because they are bad. And euphoric. Okay?”
I’ve read that they’ve actually found that students who have done the DARE program go on to use drugs at a higher rate than those who haven’t. I couldn’t say why that would be - maybe it’s like when the newspapers are suddenly full of stories about some new drug craze that’s sweeping the nation, which prompts lots of people to go out and try it themselves (ice, crystal meth, jimson weed, datura, savlia, etc, etc)
DARE - “Drugs Are Really Exciting”
My guess: because when programs like DARE inflate the risks of some drugs and tell kids that even one marijuana cigarette or one drink turns you into a raving lunatic, when the kid finds out that you lied, they wonder what other things you lied about and dismiss everything you ever said about the subject.
I think telling children the truth - and the truth is complicated - is the very best option. The truth is that some people will become addicts and some won’t, but you don’t know which you will be and either way, you have too many good things to do with your life to do drugs or drink your life away.
The truth - it works.
Ever seen the movie “Reefer Madness”? If you can laugh at the messenger, the message never gets through.
For the record, I do not do drugs, nor do I smoke. I did have a glass of wine with dinner last month, so I do drink occasionally.
DDARE teaches kids to be spies on their parents as well. Dad’s kickn back and smoking a joint with his pals or some such. The kids are questioned and coached to be stool pigeons.
I’m not a stoner but and think recreational pharmacology is generally bad, then again, it’s not for me to say.
Having raised kids in a rural area [population 1000], the only place they learned about where to buy, and how to use drugs was through the DARE program. Thanks to my government. GRRRRRRRR!
Hey, that’s how those sex ed classes work too! Teach the skulls full of mush how to do something and they go off and try it. Amazing coincidence...
Same in our town of 1400. Innocent kids are taught by either the government or kids that have come in from the big city to escape such things introducing it.
Good riddance. DARE is a ridiculous waste of time, and I’m glad my youngest kid won’t have to waste HIS time with it.
Regards,
Forgot about that. “This is a ‘shooting gallery.’ They will sell you anything you want and you can pop or inject it right there. They are bad. In fact, there is one at 5th and Main. Stay away from it.”
The first was something along the lines of a DARE program in the 8th grade -- when a couple of local vice cops visited my school, met with classes in small groups, and told us about the dangers of drugs. One of them held up a bag of cocaine and asked if anyone could identify it. A kid in the class said it was cocaine, and the cop said he was wrong. "This is John Belushi," he said, dangling the bag in the air. "This is all that f#%&er ever was, and it's all he'll ever be."
The second lesson was from my dad while I was in high school. He told me that if I ever ran into any trouble with drugs or alcohol, he had one rule -- I had to talk to him about it. He said if he ever found out from someone other than myself that I had a problem with drugs or alcohol, he'd kill me. And I knew he meant it, too.
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