Critics question effectiveness; Kauai’s program earns kudos DARE is one of those programs for kids that adults like. Community support for the anti-drugs campaign on Kaua’i, and in other small towns across America, is strong. But some police departments in
Critics question effectiveness; Kauai’s program earns kudos
DARE is one of those programs for kids that adults like.
Community support for the anti-drugs campaign on Kaua’i, and in other small towns across America, is strong. But some police departments in bigger jurisdictions are either giving up on DARE or trying to revamp their DARE programs.
Kitsap County in Washington, near Seattle, abolished its DARE program in the early 1990s. Salt Lake City, Utah, ended its program last summer, after Mayor Rocky Anderson called it “completely ineffective … a fraud … and a complete waste of money.”
DARE was initiated in 1983 during the Reagan administration. The “Just say no” message and its spokeswoman, Nancy Reagan, have often been ridiculed by “Saturday Night Live” and other youth-culture icons, but many police departments took it up with a vengeance.
DARE gives police officers a chance to relate to children as friends and mentors, which no one, even staunch DARE opponents, would say was a bad thing.
But does the program, based on mere abstinence, work?
Some studies by national organizations almost portray the program as ineffective and teenage graduates of DARE as having as high a rate of drug abuse as students who were never in the program.
But not everyone agrees with that assessment. In its Web page, DARE claims successes in various parts of the country. And on Kaua’i, at least some authorities like the program.
“It’s a good program. My two boys have both gone through it. I believe they have learned a lot,” Kaua’i County Prosecuting Attorney Mike Soong said.
He acknowledged that critics say DARE doesn’t really have an impact on prevention when children get older.
“But I believe it is money well-spent. The kids are getting education and information. How bad can that be? Any type of education is good,” Soong said.
Aware of the criticisms and the negative studies, DARE’s national board put the program through a redesign, rather than terminate it.
And Kauai’s DARE program recently gained national attention. Leah Aiwohi, a teacher at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School, was selected national DARE Teacher of the Year for 2001-02. The award will be presented to her at the national DARE conference later this summer in Los Angeles.
Aiwohi guided her students in the creation of a DARE Web site at Chiefess Kamakahelei. Her class placed third in the national Techno Olympics computer competition at the University of Idaho last month.
Aiwohi, also Hawaii’s DARE Teacher of the Year, was nominated by Kaua’i County Police officer Ezra Kanoho, who is the state’s DARE Officer of the Year.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
