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Politics trumps science again as President George W. Bush proclaims tomorrow National DARE Day. Heaping praises on the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program, Bush says: "Across America, law enforcement officers, volunteers, parents and teachers are helping to send the right message to our nation's youth about illegal drugs and violence through the ... DARE program." Yet, despite 22 years of drug-free pledges, T-shirts, bumper stickers and plenty of abstinence-only rhetoric, the program does not seem to be getting the "right message" across to the DARE generation, many of whom are saying "maybe" or "sometimes" or even "yes" to alcohol and other drugs. As in years past, the 2004 Monitoring the Future survey of high school students' use of alcohol and other drugs revealed that three-quarters admitted to using alcohol prior to graduation, and half had tried illegal drugs. Dismissal of "just say no" is so widespread that even the Bush twins were caught imbibing before they were of legal drinking age. Perhaps teens are cynical about the simplistic "drugs are bad, don't use them" messages they have received since early childhood. Or maybe they don't find police officers, however well-meaning, a credible source of information. Whatever the reasons, the "feel-good" DARE program has proven to be little more than a feel-good placebo -for everyone involved except students themselves. Evaluations over the past decade have consistently found, as the General Accounting Office noted after assessing the research, "DARE had no statistically significant long-term effect on preventing youth illicit drug use." Amid an ever-growing chorus of critics, the U.S. surgeon general, the National Academy of Sciences, the Department of Education and the American Federation of Teachers have deemed DARE ineffective. And although DARE has tried to reinvent itself of late, preliminary evaluations are no better than those of the original program, still used in a majority of American school districts. By officially praising DARE, Bush not only demonstrates a fundamental disregard for research, but also contradicts his own education policy. The No Child Left Behind Act recommends only programs approved by the federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention. DARE is glaringly absent from that prized list of "evidence-based" drug education programs. While the Bush administration continues to tout an ineffective program, a growing number of big cities are refusing to go along. Most notably, Los Angeles, birthplace of the program, all but eliminated DARE last year. And after receiving a scathing report from its Independent Budget Office, New York City abandoned DARE last year, citing ineffectiveness as well as a savings of $2.5 million to the city. Many places in New York State, including Long Island, still have DARE programs. Sacrificing sound programs in favor of doctrine, a palpable disservice to teens, is also apparent with the parallel issue of sexuality education. The House of Representatives' Committee on Government Reform has been looking at federally funded, abstinence-only sex education programs and found that such programs deliver distorted and inaccurate information about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases. Just this month, authors of a joint Yale-Columbia University research study reported on the impact of teenage virginity pledges pushed by the "True Love Waits" movement. In the prestigious Journal of Adolescent Health, sociologists Hannah Bruckner and Peter Bearman revealed that the majority of pledgers ultimately had sex before marriage. Pledgers were less likely to use condoms than their nonpledging counterparts, and those who remained virgins were "more likely to substitute oral and/or anal sex for vaginal sex." We hear lots of rhetoric these days about family values and safety. As the mother of four, I share other parents' concerns about the worrisome issues of sex and drugs. Abstinence, of course, would be ideal for teenagers. But, in the end, we have no choice but to accept the reality that young people make their own decisions, and they are not always consistent with our preferences. When policy-makers advocate rigid, abstinence-only drug and sex education programs of questionable value, to the exclusion of safety-oriented approaches that dare to provide an honest, comprehensive fallback strategy, they put our young people in real jeopardy. If sex and drug prevention programs prohibit the discussion of practical information about how to take precautions if one is not abstinent, they are neither education nor protection. Marsha Rosenbaum, PhD, directs the Safety First drug education project at the Drug Policy Alliance and is the author of "Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens, Drugs, and Drug Education.'' |
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We are careful not to duplicate the efforts of other organizations, and as a grassroots coalition of prisoners and social reformers, our resources (time and money) are limited. The vast expertise and scope of the various drug reform organizations will enable you to stay informed on the ever-changing, many-faceted aspects of the movement. Our colleagues in reform also give the latest drug war news. Please check their websites often. |
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