Debate Nirvana

The most important thing with drug education is to teach kids why they should refuse these substances. If the students are learning how to make good decisions about drugs and alcohol, than they will be more likely to continue to refuse drugs in the future. DARE is focusing on these decision making skills in order to make their program effective and reduce drug usage in children. In 2009, DARE started a new program, based on an older program called Keeping it Real, which focuses on teaching children good decision making skills. Studies from Penn State University in 2011 (after the new program was implemented), a collaborator in the new program, said that students who completed this program, saw a 29% decrease in their desire to use drugs, alcohol, and tobacco, and had better decision making skills. 6,000 students filled out questionnaires about their use of alcohol, tobacco and marijuana at several points over a two-year period. The reports from students who completed the program indicated that they sampled these substances less than those in a control group, and used a wider variety of strategies to stay sober. Their antidrug attitudes were also more likely to stick over time. Another government study conducted by the National Center for Biotechnology Information, funded by the National Institute of Health, with 1,300 students who were already using drugs, showed that the program reduced substance use at a rate that was 72 percent higher than the control group. With support from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, DARE scientifically evaluated this program and found that it was able to improve decision making skills when it came to these substances, as well as decision making skills in general.

The D.A.R.E program strengthens community in schools, making students friendlier towards police officers and their school. Results from a 2008 peer-reviewed study indicate that students who are taught by a police officer during the D.A.R.E. program have more positive attitudes toward the police following graduation. Schools have reported D.A.R.E. officers as providing a "sense of safety and calm" in the wake of school shootings and street violence. According to a school official in Colorado, "police are often looked at as the bad guy, or the one that's going to come in and get you for being a bad guy, and I think that D.A.R.E. provides an opportunity for our young kids particularly to find out that officers can be a resource for protection, for answers for some questions, for direction and for care." Police officers report that D.A.R.E. has made them "seem more human in the eyes of children in the community." In Richmond, CA, where crime was a major issue as well as police shootings, the new police chief implemented police community building. Since Magnus implemented his reforms, Richmond, once one of the most violent cities in the United States, has experienced an extraordinary reduction in crime. In 2013, the city had just 16 homicides, the city's fewest in 33 years.

According to drugwise.org.uk good quality drug eduacation can make a catastrophic difference in drug reduction. Good education can include accurate and information about drugs and why they will harm your body.

Since 2009, studies done on the DARE program have shown that students who complete the DARE program have seen a 32% to 44% reduction in marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol use. These students have also seen a 29% to 34% decrease in their want to use these substances. Though D.A.R.E’s last program was a bust there new program has reduced drug use by a huge amount. Also according to dare.procon.org studies have shown that D.A.R.E ha beneficial effects on student knowledge of drugs and attitudes about drug use.

If D.A.R.E. wasn't a satisfactory and effective program, the government would've gotten rid of it back in the 80s. Clearly, they had to be doing something right to keep it circling around America for over 30 years. Drug use and drug overdoses has decreased. The government, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice would not fund something unless they deemed it useful, effective, and beneficial. Plus, if no parents have gone against it, it must be good on the parent’s end. So the parents are happy  and the children are too. So D.A.R.E. must be effective if the government, children, and parents agree that it is good enough to put time and money into. According to Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, D.A.R.E. has taught children well and has satisfied parents in their children's drug education. In a survey done in 2007, 95% of the 5,376 children they surveyed said the program helped them decide against using drugs later in life. Also, 95% of those children said that D.A.R.E. taught them well about the topic of drugs. And, 99% of the 3,095 parents showed very high support for D.A.R.E. 96% of parents agree that it had a good impact on their child and that they benefited from it.

There is little evidence on the new  D.A.R.E. program, but the few studies conducted show that the current DARE program does not help prevent drug use in school children or later in life.  A 2011 study in the journal of  Contemporary School Psychology of all meta-studies of D.A.R.E found the program to be "ineffective in reducing illicit drug use among youths, especially in the long term." A 2011 survey of D.A.R.E. by the California Department of Education found that 40% of students told researchers they were "not at all" influenced by D.A.R.E., and nearly 70% reported neutral to negative feelings about those leading the program. 33% of middle school students and 90% of high school students reported "negative" or "indifferent" feelings towards D.A.R.E. Students reported that the D.A.R.E. message is repeated so often at school that the concept has lost its meaning and becomes tedious. Additionally, a national study funded by the US Department of Justice concluded that D.A.R.E. has "small effects on drug use," and is "significantly" less successful at preventing drug use than other programs. Many more agencies have done significant research on how DARE does not resolve drug use: The Government Accountability Office, the US Surgeon General. Psychologist Pim Cujipers indicates that since DARE only works for months instead of years in schools with high drug usage, there is not enough community engagement time to change student’s mindsets towards drugs.

The new DARE program, Keepin it REAL, implemented in 2009, had requirements that schools hired school resource officers. These police officers stationed in schools are incredibly detrimental to the overall environment that schools hope to create. When students see police officers in uniform in their classrooms, they feel as though they are in prison, making it more difficult for them to focus on their studies. Donna Lieberman of the New York Civil Liberties Union says that excessive police presence in schools “reinforce school environments that are not conducive to educational and social growth”. Instead, Lieberman contends that treating students like criminals creates a “self-fulfilling prophecy”, which increases the drug and crime rates in schools. Empirically, Professor of Criminology, Chongmin Na, found that schools with DARE police officers had a 29% higher rate of weapon and drug crimes than those that did not have police present. Not only that, but a study done by Amanda Petteruti of the Justice Policy Institute found that schools with DARE police officers had 400% more arrest than schools that didn’t. From an outside perspective, this may seem like a good thing, however Professor Kerin Wolf found that over 90% of these arrests are unjustified and students are arrested for relatively minor causes. Furthermore, Professor David Kirk found that after being introduced to the justice system students were 46% more likely to end up being arrested again. Anna Aizer of the Centre for Economic Policy Research quantifies that those incarcerated as youth are 39% less likely to graduate from high school.