Mises.org: General Accounting Office admits D.A.R.E. doesn't work!

[shanek]

The Truth about D.A.R.E.

If popularity was the sole measure of success then D.A.R.E., the "Drug Abuse Resistance Education" curriculum that is now taught in 80 percent of school districts nationwide, would be triumphant. However, if one is to gauge success by actual results, then America's most pervasive and expensive youth drug education program is (and always has been) a gigantic and incontrovertible flop.

So says the General Accounting Office (GAO) in a scathing new report that finds the politically popular program has had "no statistically significant long-term effect on preventing youth illicit drug use." In addition, students who participate in D.A.R.E. demonstrate "no significant differences... [in] attitudes toward illicit drug use [or] resistance to peer pressure" compared to children who had not been exposed to the program, the GAO determined.

 

[Mr Manifesto]

Young people will always want to use drugs. There would be so many less drug deaths if one were instead to look at harm minimisation.

It is funny that a country as captialistic as the United States does not want to capitalise on the lucrative recreational drugs industry for the sake of a fake morality. No wonder that there are so many conspiracy theories which say that recreational drugs are only banned because of the lobbying of the cotton industry, alcohol industry, etc.

 

[GrapeJ713]

One of the main flaws of DARE is that it uses police officers to preach to kids about how bad drug use is. Most of what they say is BullS#1T, and most kids don't want to be goody-goody-look-at-me-I-don't-do-drugs-kids. They should have ex-junkies that lost thier families, jobs and houses and such to drugs. Hear real stories from people that can't handle drugs. Most of the people I grew up with were bombarded with films showing what happens to loser druggies, so we didn't do a lot of drugs in high school, we waited untile we went to college or were colleg age before we started experimenting. A program using junkies working off community service or work release or whatever would be cheaper and more effective. Plus, the government should just legalize drugs and leave people alone unless they hurt themselves or others.


edited because I spelled out B.S.

 

[Tony]

I was in the DARE program in grade school, I even took "the pledge" to never do drugs. No one took it seriously, it was just a way to miss real class.

 

[subgenius]

I was in the DARE program in grade school, I even took "the pledge" to never do drugs. No one took it seriously, it was just a way to miss real class.

And its a way for lazy cops to miss real police work.
Billion dollar boondoggle that can't be voted against or you're "for" drug use.
Had several cases of DARE "officers" drunk on the job.

 

[Dancing David]

Uh gee folks you are all missing the point

DARE is a gang reduction program, it is meant to give kids the means to resist and leave gangs when they choose to do so. No one wanted to fight gand but hey there is a war on drugs...

Funk On

 

[Incitatus]

. Plus, the government should just legalize drugs and leave people alone unless they hurt themselves or others.


edited because I spelled out B.S.

All drugs?

 

[tamiO]

They should have ex-junkies that lost thier families, jobs and houses and such to drugs. Hear real stories from people that can't handle drugs.

My oldest had guest speakers like you describe. They told the kids about how desperate they got to get high and turned to sniffing various supermarket items and abusing over the counter cough syrup.
Lightbulbs went off all over the room.

 

[GrapeJ713]

Uh gee folks you are all missing the point

DARE is a gang reduction program, it is meant to give kids the means to resist and leave gangs when they choose to do so. No one wanted to fight gand but hey there is a war on drugs...

Funk On

The main point of today's gangs is to distribute DRUGS, so if drugs were able to be sold legally then gang membership would either decrease or go legit because they have the most experience.

 

[Incitatus]

The main point of today's gangs is to distribute DRUGS, so if drugs were able to be sold legally then gang membership would either decrease or go legit because they have the most experience.

Gangs can and have been about other things.

BTW, what drugs? All of them?

 

[GrapeJ713]

Yep all of them. 80% of drug users are pot smokers. Most people are smart enough to stay away from opiates. If opiates were legal, guidelines could be set for potency. I remember watching something about the british system for herion addicts, they are given substinence doses in a clean environment and counseling to help them quit if they want to. But if they can get on with thier lives without harming anyone and use whatever drugs they want they should be able to. Any negative effects of drug legalization would be 100 times less than the current negative effects of drug prohibition. Just like everyone found out during alcohol prohibition.

 

[a_unique_person]

Re: Re: Mises.org: General Accounting Office admits D.A.R.E. doesn't work!

Young people will always want to use drugs. There would be so many less drug deaths if one were instead to look at harm minimisation.

It is funny that a country as captialistic as the United States does not want to capitalise on the lucrative recreational drugs industry for the sake of a fake morality. No wonder that there are so many conspiracy theories which say that recreational drugs are only banned because of the lobbying of the cotton industry, alcohol industry, etc.

You can get high on cotton? Now why didn't someone tell me that earlier.

 

[a_unique_person]

And its a way for lazy cops to miss real police work.
Billion dollar boondoggle that can't be voted against or you're "for" drug use.
Had several cases of DARE "officers" drunk on the job.

You mean cops take drugs too? now you have shattered one more of my illusions.

 

[a_unique_person]

My oldest had guest speakers like you describe. They told the kids about how desperate they got to get high and turned to sniffing various supermarket items and abusing over the counter cough syrup.
Lightbulbs went off all over the room.

Not quite the message they were supposed to be getting across.

 

[shanek]

Gangs can and have been about other things.

Illegal things, yes. You don't see many gangs managing paper routes or Save-Ways.