News

DARE explores truth about behavior;
The anti-drug education program widens its focus to decision-making strategies and handling situations.
Portland Press Herald - November 2008

Scarborough Police Officer Joe Giacomantonio asks a group of Wentworth Intermediate School fifth-graders whether someone can demonstrate three attitudes a person can bring to a tense encounter.

Chris McCammon stands and shows how a person trying to cut in front of the lunch line can be met by someone who is confident, someone who is unsure or someone who is hostile.

His recollection from an earlier exercise earns him the coveted stuffed animal, Daren, the DARE lion, which he clutches for the rest of the hourlong class.

The 19 students in Pat Reagan's fifth-grade class are in the final weeks of their DARE program, a series of 10 once-a-week classes.

DARE - Drug Abuse Resistance Education - was developed in 1983 and used to be all about drugs.

But the program's curriculum and its delivery have evolved to include topics such as violence, cyber-bullying and avoiding high-risk behaviors.

The program also tends to focus more on decision-making skills than simply exposing children to the dangers of drugs.

''The actual focus of DARE has changed,'' said Giacomantonio, the town's DARE officer and statewide coordinator of the program.

It is more interactive than it used to be, and involves role-playing and studying different possible scenarios the students might one day confront.

The program is popular throughout the country, with some 75 percent of school districts offering the DARE curriculum.

But it is less common in Maine, with just 40 school districts and 37 officers involved.

Giacomantonio laments that more districts don't take advantage of the program, though he concedes that small towns might have more difficulty dedicating an officer to it or coming up with the $10 per pupil for workbooks and graduation T-shirts.

He says the benefits extend beyond what the kids are taught.

''I think the biggest thing that comes up is the relationships we build, knowing (the students) can talk to a police officer too. Kids who need help now can come forward and get help from us,'' he said.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, DARE humanizes police, exposes students to officers in a helpful role - not just an enforcement one - and increases communication between police and youths, parents and teachers.

''I can't go anywhere without some kid coming up and saying, 'Hi, Officer Joe,''' he says, and his walk down the Scarborough school's hallways generates several such greetings.

Studies in the 1990s found the program was not accomplishing its stated goal, so, in response to criticism, DARE revamped its curriculum and began commissioning its own studies to improve it.

One of the conclusions was that simply exposing young students to the dangers of drugs was not enough.

''Increasing knowledge about substance use and effects can be effective, but only in conjunction with a variety of other strategies,'' said Chris Ringwalt, a researcher with Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation who did some of the work exposing DARE's ineffectiveness.

He now sits on its scientific advisory board.

It is also unfair to expect short-term education programs to have long-term effects, he said.

''This whole business of a permanent inoculation based on intervention at one grade sets DARE and prevention generally up for failure,'' said Ringwalt. ''Prevention messages need to be developmentally appropriate and systematic in every year after elementary school.''

The Scarborough class doesn't spend as much time on drugs as it does on decision-making strategies and role-playing, knowing how to handle situations when someone offers a cigarette or discovers some beer.

Youngsters learn to define the issue, assess the choices, respond and then evaluate the impact of their decision.

When they make a safe choice, they should let their parents know to build up the ''trust piggy bank,'' Giacomantonio said.

They learn about the power of addiction and that, although smoking is bad, they need to be understanding of family members or others who might do it.

The students' workbooks are full of lists of healthy, fun things to do without drugs or alcohol.

''It really helps kids and adults know to make really good choices,'' student Kylie Greenleaf said of the program.

''It's really amazing there's a free program that lets kids know what's right from wrong, and I think it really helps,'' said classmate Chris McCammon.

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