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Drug Education

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New Group Seeks to Stop Marijuana Legalization [FEATURE]

Project SAM has emerged as a "third way" effort to blunt progress toward marijuana legalization by emphasizing public health and treatment. Its leaders include a conservative columnist, an addiction-plagued ex-congressman, and a professional neo-prohibitionist.
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Is the D.A.R.E. Program Good for America's Kids?, from ProCon.org

ProCon.org is a set of in-depth web sites presenting information and views from on current issues, several with relevance to drug policy. The Chronicle is currently running a series of info items from ProCon.org -- this one from dare.procon.org -- and we encourage you to check it out.

Is DARE Program Worth It?

While participants remain enthusiastic, scientific reviews have been negative on the effectiveness of the DARE program, which started in Los Angeles in 1983. A 2006 report by the U.S. Surgeon General concluded that those who participate in DARE are just as likely to use drugs as those who don’t. Khadija K. Swims, of Grand Valley State University, reviewed several studies on DARE and concluded the program is "ineffective" in preventing future drug, alcohol and tobacco use in adolescents. The results of such studies mean schools can’t spend federal money on DARE. Under rules that went into effect in 1998, the Department of Education requires agencies that receive federal money to prove within two years that their programs reduce drug use among students.

Knox County D.A.R.E Drug Prevention Curriculum Bumped in Face of Call for Measurable Results

This spring, the Knox County Sheriff's Office will teach its final classes of the 25-year-old Drug Awareness Resistance Education program in local county schools. D.A.R.E., developed as a drug prevention curriculum by the Los Angeles Police Department for children 10-12 years old, has been long criticized by many studies and organizations -- including the U.S. Surgeon General, the National Academy of Sciences, and the U.S. Department of Education -- for not being effective at keeping kids away from drugs later in life.