IS DARE PROGRAMME WORTH THE AMOUNT SPENT ON IT

Excessive use of drugs have been rampant amongst youth for a long time. They start using drugs mainly because of peer pressure and economic hardship, but majority of them use drugs because of peer pressure, and when they start using it it becomes almost impossible to stop as it is an addictive habit.

The most effective way to stop these kids from ending up in the lethal hands of drugs is to discourage them from even trying to use it from the start. There have been a number of educational programmes that have been put together and organized in order to serve this purpose one of which is the D.A.R.E programme. D.A.R.E stands for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education. An article put together for parents by some parents "A different look at D.A.R.E" stated that "today, D.A.R.E is present at more than half of U.S school districts, in all 50 states and thirteen foreign countries, and has gained enthusiastic support among educators, law enforcement agencies and the media" [section 1 of www.drcnet.org/dare/section1.html]

English: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (May 31, 2005) &ndas...

Nugent in concert in Naples, Italy, June 1, 2004

A WVPD vehicle, outfitted for the D.A.R.E. program...

. That statement from that article only explains two things: 1, that the D.A.R.E programme is popular and 2, that the D.A.R.E programme is supported by a number of people, but one thing that really matters is how effective is the programme. The same article (A different look at D.A.R.E) while explaining parents position towards the programme expressed that "despite its popularity, in recent years local communities have begun to look closely at the D.A.R.E programme, questioning its content, cost and effectiveness" (section 1 www.drcnet.org/dare/section1.html). It article further explained that some parents actually thought that the programme was a waste of time and tax money since the programme costs a lot, and needed a lot of funding. The article noted that parents were "worried" (a different look...