from "Jrmiss" and the editor's reply ...

At 04:22 PM 3/29/99 -0500, you wrote:

>Just to let you know I feel that Dare has Done a lot To prevent Drugs.
>But It also teaches our kids about self esteem and peer pressure.
>It does more than what people think it does.

I can accept this if you mean that some kids have made some intelligent choices
or learned something useful through DARE. But there are much better
programs available without DARE's huge drawbacks, which may not be obvious
to you. Also, highly qualified criminologists and others have found that
DARE is basically ineffective or even counter-productive, meaning that it
harms kids. You can read their reports in the full text on my website.
This is not a matter of opinion at all. These scholars constructed the very
best experimental models in existence to assess the purposes and results of
DARE and they say it does not work or worse.

What do you have to say to them? Will you let it go with "You haven't
looked into it enough" or "If you knew what I knew then you'd agree with me?"
Is that really good enough for our kids and our schools and our nation?

>Like everything else in this world People want to say there is a downfall
in things we do to help our youth.

Think about what you just said. I think you mean that ALL adults only want
to give lousy programs to ALL youth, and they NEVER want to look at what the
youths like or prefer, or think is okay, they ALWAYS want to thwart and
subvert the youths.

If you have doubts that authorities do not necessarily mean you well, then
is it the police you really want to trust to be FOR all youth? Let's see,
"we youths can't trust the adults to take care of us and tell us the truth,
but the cops, they understand and only want what is right for us." Hmmm,
the little girl in Riverside? Amadou Diallo? Rodney King? $100 tickets
for smoking cigarettes in the girls room? You have a Midol or Aspirin in
school and you get suspended or worse. And we have these lovely drug
sniffing dogs and metal detectors for you. The grownups don't get it so you
are rushing into the arms of the ever-lovin' State. Can you please explain
about this to me?

Now here's a thought for you. DARE is not a safety program. DARE is a
state-sponsored political action masquerading as a public health benefit for
kids. Its primary mission is to disseminate propaganda to unsuspecting
teenagers and promote the image and public relations of the police, at the
expense of the parents, the taxpayers and of course, the youths. It also
relies heavily on funds from siezed homes, cars and other assets of people
many of whom have not been proved guilty of any wrongdoing. You are being
used by cynical and determined people with a political agenda and a
willingness to accept deceptive and immoral means to achieve their
particular political ends. The police, the government and the justice
system are not your friends. even though you may encounter some very likable
people working in these institutions.

>By putting D.A.R.E in the schools we are giving kids a role model
>they may not have. an adult they can look up to.

Not your teachers? Not your parents? Just cops?

I must agree with you. In a certain way, everyone looks "up" to a person
with the power of the state to force, imprison and kill them. It is said
that kidnap victims start to "admire" and "model" their kidnappers. We tend
to want to act like those that have life and death power over us. When we
give in to this we become people who use force to get our way. Is this the
role for you?


> But in the end it is the child's CHOICE if they want to do drugs.

Let me see, here's your "choice".
"Get caught with a joint and we will shoot you, fine you, put you in jail.
take you house, take your car, put your kids in county shelters, get you
fired from your job, smear you in the papers. Its your choice. "

Don't look now but this is not 'choice". This is force and this is the
exact opposite of personal responsibility which goes something like this:

Decide for yourself what to put into your body and get the effects whether
they be good or bad and get punished for any actual harm you may cause,
subject to due process of law and retaining all your rights and true power
to decide.

The first is for children, slaves and prisioners. The second is for adults.

>I think people should look more into it than they are. But everyone
>is entitled to there own opinion.

Thanks for visiting my website.

I am a D.A.R.E. officer an I think that the logo on your homepage depicts the beliefs of a lot of people I have put in jail for using drugs. I bet you are a frequent drug user yourself!   Step into a D.A.R.E. classroom. You probably have never seen the eyes of a young child light up.   I
personally don't know of any of the kids that have turned their parents in.  because if you have done your homework, you would know that "someone I know" may have done this.

I think people are putting too much pressure on D.A.R.E. You have to remember that the kids are going to decide for themselves.   If we hold this from them, then they will not know anything except what they see in TV and in the movies. The kids deserve the right to see both sides. Lets stop bashing D.A.R.E. and give it a chance.

Before I  became a D.A.R.E. officer, I hardly ever talked to the kids while out on patrol. Now I can't keep enough trading cards and stickers in my briefcase. The kids are realizing that the police are not the enemy. The only enemies the police have are the criminals and the drug dealers and users.

Editor's response:

D.A.R.E. is a clever propaganda ploy, a shill for a failed, expensive and unpopular social program which is putting thousands and thousands of people in prison for consensual behavior deemed intolerable by some other people. See Constable Gil Puder's piece on Recovering Our Honor. Police are being used in a propaganda war and police like it because it makes them jobs, makes them money and adds to your dashing image". the cost is youare being used to promote a violent, coercive policy that is doomed to fail. You should get out of DARE becuase it is politically dirty. You are pimping kids to put a happy face on the police state. You are pimping yourself to the drug war which many consider immoral and totally corrupt. How can I respect you as a person when you are so deeply asleep about this?

DARE is crap. When an overwhelming body of independant research has proved that
it does not fulfil its raison d'etre, one has to ask why it continues. Money and
politics are the usual suspects. Don't expect police to walk away from it, either...how else can a bunch of underqualified coppers get the ego strokes (and occasionally, secondary employment) of claiming that they are teachers as well as law enforcement? This is pure propaganda and image making for police agencies...they can claim that they care about the kids. What they care about is empire-building...who said the thought police existed only in Orwellian fiction?

I happen to believe that drug education should be provided as part of a comprehensive health education program, taught by qualified teachers, and presented as a core part of every grade in the K-12 curriculum...but it'll never happen makes too much sense.
 

My opinion of this site is that it STINKS!! It seems that you proudly  promote that the D.A.R.E. program does not work. 

Thanks for responding.  Perhaps you are put off by the conclusions of the people at Research Triangle Institute who did the two year study. Perhaps you did not like what the University of Illinois Carbondale Criminal Justice Department had to say about DARE.   The Houston PD found that DARE serves basically as a public relations vehicle for police views at the expense of the children and under a disguise of controlling a public menace. Now that's the conclusion in Houston.  I didn't say it. Go tell them they are prejudiced against police. 

Maybe it bothers you that Mathea Falco, who is known as a drug war hawk with credentials even you would approve, wrote "Making the Grade" in which she compared a couple of dozen Drug Prevention, Safety and similar programs and found DARE near the bottom in every criteria of evaluation except for "helps kids perceive police in a positive light".

Her address is at
Drug Strategies
Wash DC 202-663-6090
f.202-663-6110
$12.95 for the book.

Talk to Falco. I disagree with her on most everything else. You will   probably assume that I agree with her about DARE's failure but who cares what my opinion is on this? You are criticizing a list of articles that have appeared nationally in front of the brightest and  most influential people, including plenty of cops.

On what facts do you base this opinion? Until you have walked in my shoes as a police officer  and a D.A.R.E. instructor you could not possibly draw an educated conclusion to this program.

So you think police should evaluate the success of the educational program for young children?  Do you think parents and teachers might also have an informed opinion on this subject, or only police and politicians?  Police have a conflict of interest in presenting these "public service messages".  It is very unfortunate, but police cannot accurately assess this program because you are prejudiced in favor. Since you claim to be serving the public, let's listen to how the public evaluates the program.

What would you like to see? Perhaps no type of drug abuse education programs in our schools? That would do wonders for our society. The misconception, or should I say your ignorance, to the D.A.R.E. program is evident on your site.

So, are we talking about Ms. Falco, Research Triangle Institute, Houston Police Department, University of Illinois or who?  I urge you to present to me any documentary evidence you have. I will gladly present in public on my website, under your name, your views on this  subject and any supporting material you may have within the scope of the website. I will put it up for a year at my expense and invite readers to comment, and I will post their comments as well. 

It is so sad that our great country's constitution can protect liberal swines, since the venom that they spew is considered free press. There is some
brightness in thought.

Dear Sir, you have eloquently and convincingly made my case as to why police should not be in front of my children with this message. I am the parent of the child you want to teach. I publish scholarly articles on the program which pays your salary, and your response is to call me names and threaten me .

There are more of us than of you.

Yes. That's what the majority says to the minority. Should I be worried that you are not
going to come when I need a cop?

cc Culver City School District