# Is The "DARE" Program Effective? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 22, 2004, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327 "2004-07-22T12:27:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/21 "2004-07-22T21:00:35Z")
I always imagined the DARE program was envisioned by hardened, cynical police dectives who have seen so much hard life they’re on the verge of giving up. I mean really, we DARE you to keep kids of drugs. Go ahead, try it. As a matter of fact, we Double Dog DARE you. And after that, we DARE you to stick your tounge to the frozen flag pole… ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/22 "2004-07-22T22:21:04Z")
My public-health-expert wife worked on a study here in Washington State evaluating a violence-prevention program built on the DARE model. Result: the program was a completely ineffective waste of money. I’m hazy on the details, so I’ll see if I can get her to post in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/23 "2004-07-22T22:42:48Z")
It’s been dropped in our school district. This might be because of lack of funding, and that the police thought it better to have cops in the streets than in second grade doing nothing useful. I can buy the improved attitude towards police result though - the officer on the high school and junior high campuses seem to be good at building relationships with the kids. I’ll second or third the objection to DARE that others have expressed - it treats all drugs the same. Since is the same attitude that gets kids expelled for bringing Tylenol to school. My wife, who writes on both health and parenting issues, really despises the program for this reason. ---
**Author:** ![HoldenCaulfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/22d042/32.png) [@HoldenCaulfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoldenCaulfield)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/24 "2004-07-23T03:38:52Z")
A friend of mine used to buy drugs from his DARE officer. I doubt there are many like that, but, yeah, it definitely wasn’t effective in his case. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/25 "2004-07-23T10:52:14Z")
> [@HoldenCaulfield](#): > > A friend of mine used to buy drugs from his DARE officer. I doubt there are many like that, but, yeah, it definitely wasn’t effective in his case. Please clarify. Was your friend actually doing drugs in fourth/fifth grade, or was your friend buying drugs from the DARE officer when he was older? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/26 "2004-07-23T11:18:35Z")
Our DARE officer in elementary school took out his gun after much pestering by us students; he was going to show it to us, then he dropped it on the floor. I picked it up and handed it to him. The first time I held a handgun. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/27 "2004-07-23T15:58:35Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > DUnless you’re suggesting that students attending certain _schools_ are more likely to use drugs than others, I can’t see how this could be the case. That’s exactly what I was suggesting. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/28 "2004-07-23T17:06:06Z")
> [@Leonard](#): > > I don’t know if this is the case everywhere or not, but in my area the DARE program has been totally discontinued. There were complaints that the program was being used by police to get kids to divulge information about their parents. I never heard anything about whether there was ever any truth to the allegations. I suspect that just their existence was enough to do the program in locally. Several years back a couple of arrests like that led to some smart guy marketing T-Shirts reading DARE: _I sent my parents to prison and all I got was this stinking T=shirt_ There’s a anecdotal story halfway down [this](http://www.sumeria.net/politics/drugwar2.html)page. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/29 "2004-07-23T22:40:47Z")
The naive notion that caffiene, nicotine, etc are just as bad as “hard” drugs has even permeated the administration. At our high school, a junior was written up for coming to school “under the influence” - because he smoked a (tobacco) cigarette on the way to school. 😕 The assistant principal said “well, I don’t know what smoking a cigarette would do to a person’s body - it MIGHT make you high.” :eek: _Hello !!! There’s a teacher right down the hall in Drug Education who would be glad to tell you !!!_. dumb@$$. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/30 "2004-07-23T23:26:13Z")
> [@Leonard](#): > > I don’t know if this is the case everywhere or not, but in my area the DARE program has been totally discontinued. There were complaints that the program was being used by police to get kids to divulge information about their parents. I never heard anything about whether there was ever any truth to the allegations. I suspect that just their existence was enough to do the program in locally. IIRC, there was at least one major church group that was opposed to the DARE program because it was counter to family values. Seems that they didn’t approve of the idea of kids being used as informants against their parents. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/31 "2004-07-23T23:52:01Z")
I remember reading an article many years ago in _The New Republic_ that cited the lack of effectiveness in DARE programs. It was ALSO about how people that brought this up were often then hounded by the DARE people as being pro-drug, to the point that people who spoke up against it (especially researchers) would then find themselves accused of selling drugs to kids, lose their funding, etc. When people pointed to results that said that DARE didn’t work, DARE would respond with “Oh, that’s the OLD DARE program that they based that study on. We have a new one now that works much better.” I’ll see if I can find the article on line. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/32 "2004-07-24T01:53:30Z")
> [@Bongmaster](#): > > What they need to do is show these kids the effects of serious drug use, not make coffee and beer out to be the same as shooting heroin (if thats really the case). Take them on a tour of a prison or a real nasty part of town. What else would scare the crap out of them like that? Maybe 2nd grade is a bit young for that, but you see what I am saying. When I was in the 8th grade they hand-picked the nine worst kids in school and took us to the state prison. The prisoners yelled at us, told us we were punks, told us how they could kill us before the gaurds got over there to stop them…etc. They also each told us the story of how they got there and things like that. Of those 9 kids: 1 is dead, 3 are serving long jail terms (two for robbing a hotel and one for too many drug convictions), 1 OD’ed on xanax the day he got out of court-ordered rehab and is now wanted for murder, 1 is addicted to oxyconton (among other drugs) and working odd jobs, 1 is unaccounted for (I think he moved after high school but he was definitely headed down the wrong path), and only myself and one other guy are doing good. Take what you will from that. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/33 "2004-07-24T03:06:39Z")
A somewhat decent drug program: Tell the students how draconian the penalties are for any drug related offense. “Agree or disagree, this is what WILL happen to you…” With mandatory minimums and mandatory jail time, at least tell the students how tough the laws are for any drug related offense. Remind the students, in a tough economy, how many HR people will eliminate your job application for any criminal offense. Don’t start this is 5th grade, start it in high school. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/34 "2004-07-24T03:29:14Z")
Isn’t the D.A.R.E. program just a “war on drugs” effort for kids? And we all know how well the war on drugs is going… ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/35 "2004-07-24T03:39:09Z")
I can only speak for my class: heck no it wasn’t effective. The “good” kids would have stayed away from drugs with or without DARE. The ones who became druggies probably would have been regardless of how much they were warned. DARE doesn’t work because it’s not scary enough. The nice police officer telling you that drugs are bad, mmkay isn’t going to get it. Take the little darlings on a field trip to the morgue. Let them go talk to the mother of someone who is in a coma because some dickhead drunk driver hit them head on. Let 'em watch somebody going through heroin withdrawal. Instead of telling them how bad drugs are, SHOW them just what they can do, all the ugly stuff. Better than sitting in a classroom, IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/36 "2004-07-24T04:51:01Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > My beef with the DARE program in my daughter’s school was with the amount of total crap they were trying to stuff into her head. Once at a restaurant, she told me that I’d have to let her mother drive us home because I had a beer with dinner “and one beer is enough to make you drive drunk.” > > WTF? Sooner or later, kids are going to realize that they are being fed BS. Not necessarily total BS. Everybody is different; personally one beer affects me enough that I know I have to wait a while before it’s safe to drive. I’m 5’10" 200lbs, alcohol just tends to hit me fast (the next couple of drinks don’t make it any worse though). (Yes I know that one drink may not put your BAC over the legal limit, that doesn’t mean you are safe to drive) I think that this was an opportunity to set a good example for your daughter - really simple, “Your parents don’t drink and drive”. Mom is there, she hasn’t had anything to drink, have her drive. That might just save her skin some day in college when the guy who’s had nothing but Sprite drives instead of the guy who had a beer or two. ---
**Author:** ![Abbie\_Carmichael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@Abbie\_Carmichael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Abbie_Carmichael)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/37 "2004-07-24T06:40:57Z")
I’ve gotta side with Val on this one. Sure, one beer probably isn’t going to make you fail a breathalyzer. So? Why not let Mom drive anyway and set a good example for the kid? Or are you one of those guys that can’t stand to have his woman in the driver’s seat … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/38 "2004-07-24T06:46:04Z")
Make the kids watch Requiem For A Dream. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2004, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327/39 "2004-07-24T06:58:13Z")
> [@Abbie Carmichael](#): > > DARE doesn’t work because it’s not scary enough. The nice police officer telling you that drugs are bad, mmkay isn’t going to get it. > > Take the little darlings on a field trip to the morgue. Let them go talk to the mother of someone who is in a coma because some dickhead drunk driver hit them head on. Let 'em watch somebody going through heroin withdrawal. Instead of telling them how bad drugs are, SHOW them just what they can do, all the ugly stuff. Better than sitting in a classroom, IMHO. I don’t think scary is the answer. Remember ‘Scared Straight’? Taking the youths into the prison to be spoken to by the cons and showing them what prison life was really like while verbally berating them and scaring the shit out of them? That program was ineffective as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-dare-program-effective/256327.md?page=1)