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Officials want proof that DARE works
by Robb Fulcher
The Beach Cities Health District board indicated that it will ask police officials to prove that the DARE program is effective in preventing substance abuse among young people, a move that could affect the program's future funding.
"This is something that we are asking all our [funding recipients] to do," health district board member Vanessa Poster said on Monday. "We are not assuming that the program is not effective; we just want to assure that our money is well spent."
DARE, which attempts to arm children with information about the dangers of drugs, is offered by police officers through the public schools.
In recent years, a number of studies have cast doubts on the program's effectiveness.
The subject was discussed at the health district board's regular meeting Thursday, after local resident Robe Richester questioned DARE's effectiveness. Richester suggested that DARE money could be better spent on a now-dormant plan to test Redondo Union High School athletes for drugs.
"Maybe this is a way to get a better impact, by drug testing. Maybe we could wean some of these dollars out," board member Clint Patterson said.
"We should give them a chance to prove that their program is successful," Poster said. No formal action was taken, but no board member expressed disagreement about evaluating DARE.
"This gives staff direction about what the board is thinking," Poster said in an interview. "My sense is that the next time they come up for funding, we want them to have something showing their effectiveness."
She said that one way to measure such a program would be to survey students six months after graduation about their behaviors and what they think they learned.
Last year the health district gave $2,000 to Hermosa's DARE program, $7,000 to Manhattan's and $15,000 to Redondo's.
The Hermosa DARE program, currently taught by motorcycle officers Jaime Ramirez and Nicholas Stratis, graduated about 2,000 students since 1987.
In a special event last fall, about 160 DARE students from Hermosa schools attended a concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum by country music star and DARE graduate Leann Rimes. The event celebrated the program's 17th continuous year and featured an address by U.S. Drug Czar Barry McCaffery.
On Tuesday, Hermosa Police Department spokesman Paul Wolcott said he had not received word of the health district board's intentions.
DARE's effectiveness was discussed last August at a meeting of the Health Advisory Committee, a panel of physicians and registered nurses that advises the health district.
Lauren Morones, the district's director of community-based services, told the committee that a study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology found that DARE instruction did not make children less likely to use drugs, or have a negative attitude about drugs, or have higher self-esteem.
The journal noted that the DARE program had been revised since the study.
The advisory committee suggested that the health district gather local data about the program. ER