Concepts covered include norms, consequences, resisting pressure and intervening in dangerous or risky situations. An effective multicultural curriculum that is developmentally appropriate and based on the powerful Social Emotional Learning approach. This curriculum teaches the foundational skills that youth need to be safe, healthy, and responsible in leading drug-free lives. Forty-one D.A.R.E. officer training seminars were conducted graduating 836 new D.A.R.E. officers, and 122 law enforcement agencies began new D.A.R.E. program implementations.

In 1986 Congress passed the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act, with language added in 1989 that allocated funding for D.A.R.E. and other drug use prevention programs. By 2000, near the program’s peak, it was used in up to 75 percent of American school districts, reaching more than 26 million students per year. By 2024 the program was also used outside the U.S. in 29 countries, reaching more than three million international students each year. To become certified to teach the program, each D.A.R.E. officer must complete an 80-hour training course. D.A.R.E.’s elementary, middle and high school curricula, as well as its enhancement lessons on subjects that include bullying, internet safety, and over-the-counter prescription drug and opiates abuse, have been developed through partnerships with highly respected universities and prevention education experts.

Need Professional Help with Addiction?

Worst of all, there are many scientists who say that Levant and hisorganization’s boosters have made it nearly impossible to conduct honestresearch. At an Illinois college, a professor who criticized the program wasaccused by D.A.R.E. supporters of trying to sell drugs to campus students.Although a department investigation cleared him of all wrongdoing, theprofessor says he will never look into the program again. Likewise, aCalifornia professor says his department chairman won’t let him study D.A.R.E.anymore, because local D.A.R.E. officials have written letters to grantsorganizations saying the professor’s department supports drug use. The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) hosted its inaugural D.A.R.E. graduation ceremony for 5th graders at Normal Park Museum Magnet School. HCSO says 101 5th graders graduated from the D.A.R.E. program on Friday, and by the end of the school year, approximately… With each passing year, D.A.R.E.’s success was seen in classrooms and homes leading to rapid growth and expansion.

Officer Toolkit

• The effort to ignore vast reviews about the program came to a climax when the Institute of Justice accessed the program in 1994 and rendered it ineffective, but failed to publish the findings.
• And one study actually found a slight uptick in drug use among suburban students after participation in D.A.R.E. In 2009, D.A.R.E. rebranded with new curriculums for students dubbed „keepin‘ it REAL.“ But the programming doesn’t focus on how students can minimize their risk of harm if they do choose to use drugs.
• By 2000, near the program’s peak, it was used in up to 75 percent of American school districts, reaching more than 26 million students per year.
• However, there needs to be ongoing research and work to prevent drug use on the individual, family, school, and community levels.

At Epiphany Wellness, all information published on our website has been rigorously medically reviewed by a doctorate level medical professional, and cross checked to ensure medical accuracy. Your health is our number one priority, which is why the editorial and medical review process we have established at Epiphany Wellness helps our end users trust that the information they read on our site is backed up my peer reviewed science. Another factor is stress in times of transition, which can affect both children and adults. Children go through many major changes from kindergarten to graduation, which can bring new social circles and experiences that can encourage experimentation with drugs. Some students are first introduced to drug culture in college as they meet new people from different backgrounds.

But the most disheartening research done on the D.A.R.E. program was one that for over ten years. Participants indicated their drug use statuses when they were 10, and then 20 years old. The results showed that those who finished the program were no less likely to drink alcohol, use illegal drugs, or succumb to peer pressure than their counterparts who never went through the program. What’s more, participants who took part in the program said they struggled with low self-esteem later in life. If you were among the millions of students who took part in the D.A.R.E. program between 1983 and 2009, you might be surprised to learn that experts have repeatedly proven that it didn’t work. Despite being one of the most widely used drug abuse prevention programs targeted at school-aged students, it did not make you any less likely to abuse drugs or turn down the offer to abuse drugs from friends.

Con 2: D.A.R.E. is associated with increased drug use.

• Teens are dying after taking what they thought was Adderall or Percocet, but turn out to be fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills.
• „But it didn’t have to be that way. We could have learned safety way ahead of time,“ he says.
• A comprehensive study completed in 2021 by UNC Greensboro – the only one ever conducted reviewing a prevention education curricula taught by law enforcement officers rather than teachers – concluded D.A.R.E. keepin’ it REAL Elementary School Curriculum is Evidence-based, Successful and Effective.
• Recent studies, however,show little correlation between parental abstinence and children’sexperimentation.
• The program distributed T-shirts and other items branded with the D.A.R.E. logo and with anti-drug messages.
• D.A.R.E. aims to prevent drug use among students by helping them to develop decision-making and communication skills.

From the D.A.R.E. kiR middle school curriculum, the D.A.R.E. kiR elementary curriculum evolved. The D.A.R.E. kiR elementary curriculum has been established as being evidence-based ⁴, the only elementary prevention education curriculum to have efficacy verifies through rigorous, longitudinal scientific study, with results published in a recognized peer-review journal. Since 2018, more than 250 communities throughout the United States launched a newD.A.R.E. Elementary, middle, and high school curricula, as well as critical enhancement lessons on subjects including opioid abuse prevention, vaping, and teen suicide, are now being taught in these communities by officers who attended one of the 75 two-week, intensive D.A.R.E. training courses conducted since 2018. More than 2,000 new D.A.R.E. Officers from virtually every state in America were graduated.

Is the New D.A.R.E. Effective?

The oversight from DARE America, which includes substance abuse and prevention specialists, keeps the latest science at the forefront of the program. D.A.R.E. lessons are derived from SMART, an anti-drug program developed by the University of Southern California. However, police officers in uniform deliver the D.A.R.E. lessons why d a.r.e. d.a.r.e. america instead of teachers. In many programs, police officers spend time with students enjoying recreational activities or engaging in conversation.

New D.A.R.E. Program

Levant’s new book helpsfill this void and illustrates why D.A.R.E. is ineffective. Keeping KidsDrug Free lays the responsibility for children’s drug use on parents’ability–or inability–to serve as squeaky-clean role models. In large partthat’s good advice, but when you look more closely, it quickly unravels.Levant states, for instance, that parents who don’t want their kids to abusedrugs should themselves refrain from drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.It seems that complete abstinence is the only way. Recent studies, however,show little correlation between parental abstinence and children’sexperimentation. But Levant goes so far as to say that his studies show thatkids whose parents ask them „to get a beer from the refrigerator, to lighttheir cigarette or to mix their drink“ are „more likely“ to use drugs.That study, like most of Levant’s claims, is never cited or supported. Fourdrug-abuse experts I interviewed said they were not familiar with any suchresearch in the academic literature.

The two high school curriculums were developed by Rutgers University and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro respectively. These curricula have been proven effective through rigorous scientific evaluations. The D.A.R.E. kiR elementary curriculum is currently the subject of rigorous scientific evaluation, results of a preliminary evaluation of the curriculum conducted by Chapman University showed positive outcomes. Over the past three years, 118 D.A.R.E. Officer Trainings have certified 2,458 law enforcement officers to teach D.A.R.E.’s evidence-based and proven effective keepin’ it REAL elementary and middle school curricula and myPlaybook high school curriculum. D.A.R.E. curricula have been proven effective and evidence-based through multiple studies.

D.A.R.E. began as a small, local program but quickly grew to nationwide and eventually international use. After the program’s rapid and expansive growth in the 1980’s and recognizing its growing national demand, D.A.R.E.’s early community leaders founded D.A.R.E. America in 1989 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization to oversee, guide, and manage its development and national and international expansion. The D.A.R.E. program was started in 1983 by the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), Daryl Gates, in conjunction with the Los Angeles public school system. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.