Project DARE has been developed in the nation as a school-based drug-education program that receives an annual funding of over $200 million, with the aim of equipping elementary school children with skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with tobacco, drugs, and alcohol. In my opinion the idea is great, and is effective for the first two years but then wears off and hence is not effective with high school and college where peer pressure and contact with drugs is seen amongst juveniles, this is explained in the book “Juvenile Delinquency”, Eighth Edition, by Clemens Bartollas and Frank Schmalleger. They go ahead to explain how rare the effects of DARE are when it comes to drug abuse behaviour, and in the long run the effects dissipate quickly.
Dennis Rosenbaum summarized his collective evidence, summing up the research on the DARE project as disappointing since the scientific validity suggest that the program does not prevent drug abuse and use in the short term for those heading to high school and college. Therefore I believe there is no difference between students who receive DARE and those who do not participate in the program at all, just as Dennis Rosenbaum concludes. Therefore my position is that the effectiveness of the DARE project is minimal in preparing high school and college juveniles from engaging in drug abuse and use.
However, despite the ineffectiveness of DARE as a tool in drug education in schools, it has developed a good relationship between juveniles and the police. According to Dennis Rosenbaum, the officers today are typically more positive about the handling of juveniles, showing that efforts to enhance police–juvenile relations have partly been successful.
My conclusion is that DARE as a school-based drug-education program is good for general knowledge of the existence of drug abuse and its use in institutions of higher learning, but in the long run does not best equip juveniles for the pressure to use and abuse drugs. Therefore less funds should be injected into the project, which should see the funds directed into other projects, for example the federal Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) in partnership with school resource officers (SROs). This will help by teaching classes in crime prevention, substance abuse awareness, and gang resistance. They may monitor and assist troubled students through mentoring programs, and may promote social and personal responsibility by encouraging student participation in community service activities, and hence these officers help schools develop policies to address delinquent activity and school safety. Thus promoting positive ideals that should see a decrease in juvenile participation in drug use and abuse. This will in turn reduce gang activities in relation to drugs and substance use.
Works Cited
Bartollas, C., & Schmalleger, F. (2011). Juvenile Delinquency (8th ed.). Prentice Hall.
