Is DARE useful anymore?

[Dreamstalker]

Is the DARE program useful, or has it reached its end-of-life?

At least when the program was required in my school, the anti-drug strategy championed was essentially "say no" and variations (make excuses, tell the person drugs are bad, etc). That approach for that age group ("this is bad, but we're not telling why") would seem to make kids more likely to try whatever it's against. The misinformation spread when I was in the system was a bit astounding (I still do not know if that was because of true ignorance, or a perception that lack of information=protection).

[Sylvia727]

I know that at my sister's high school, her classmates showed up stoned and wearing their DARE shirts. They thought it was hilarious.

Having not been a graduate of the DARE program, I can't speak to that specifically, but all or most of my education on the topics of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll was "Don't. We promise you'll get hurt." The students tried it once, found it great, and dived in head first with blissful ignorance. And of course, many of them got hurt. Teenagers and even younger are smart enough to know when adults are insulting their intelligence, and they tend to respond by ignoring the insulter. Why should they treat the teacher with respect when s/he doesn't treat them with respect?

[CancelMyService]

Honestly the only think I got out of DARE was getting to know what weed smelled like and getting to go to a Pirates game for free. My parents and I already had the (drugs are bad, mmkay) talk.

[Dreamstalker]

When my dad heard I was in DARE, he gave me the drug talk himself. My uncle who was in Customs at the time recounted a few drug busts they had handled; that combined was my education on that subject. As far as pot goes, my parents told me what they knew and experiences they had had, ending with "if you decide at some point you want to try this, that's your decision but we just want you to be safe".

I honestly can't recall anything useful coming out of the program itself; my drug education came from direct parental involvement (and none of that stemmed from the lame "talk to your kids about drugs" campaign) and independent reading. Come to think of it, that's where my education on most subjects came from.

Maybe that's why most kids here have zero respect for the local police; having your intelligence insulted by a cop when you're an adult is bad enough.

Have I done pot? Yup. According to DARE, I should have been a meth-head a few years later :rolleyes:

[Giggle Goose]

This makes me recall one of the funniest conversations ever to occur in my household.

Mom (angry at discovering my brother's drug paraphanalia): Where did you learn to make a bong out of a soda can?

Bro (nonchalantly): DARE.

We also got to learn the street names for a bunch of drugs we had never heard of. "Fry daddy?"* Who SAYS that anymore????!

I think the most effective "education" was seeing and talking people who had their lives ruined by drugs; but all the DARE program gave me was some asshole cop who brought in samples of drugs and talked to us like we were ignorant twits. If all you hear about drugs, sex, etc. is "don't do it;" then guess what the kids are gonna do????! :eek:


*joint laced with PCP

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Oooh, my school loved the DARE program. They thought it was awesome precisely because it just told us to say no. Since they have have gone to so much trouble to teach us to obey authority unquestioningly, that should be enough, right? Right!

Same thing they thought about the sex ed classes in Idaho. If we don't tell them anything about it, they won't do it! And they wondered why we had such a bad problem with teen pregnancies there.

[DesignFox]

I guess I'm in the minority on this one. The DARE program at my school was excellent. We had a fantastic officer who all us kids absolutely loved and respected. He was the coolest guy, and he taught us a great deal.

I can't speak for all my classmates, but the program sure worked for me. I haven't even smoked a cigarette let alone touched any illegal substances. I think between the program and parental involvement, I got a good foundation and lots of good information.

We had to watch videos which showed us drug addicts and showed the direct effects the drugs had on people. I don't recall any sugar coating or glossing of facts. We watched some pretty graphic videos, learned about the different types of drugs and what they were called so we could avoid them, were shown pictures and given direct information on the long term effects on the human body.

*shrug* I'm surprised many of you didn't have the same experience...:(

[Giggle Goose]

. I haven't even smoked a cigarette let alone touched any illegal substances. I think between the program and parental involvement, I got a good foundation and lots of good information.



:eek: But they didn't teach you the dangers of being addicted to coffee, did they?

;)

[Dreamstalker]

Mom (angry at discovering my brother's drug paraphanalia): Where did you learn to make a bong out of a soda can?

Bro (nonchalantly): DARE.

Oh, that is too funny :D My DARE program never did stuff like that, as far as what drugs look like we got grainy pictures (how is THAT supposed to help?).

[Boozy]

Having not been a graduate of the DARE program, I can't speak to that specifically, but all or most of my education on the topics of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll was "Don't. We promise you'll get hurt." The students tried it once, found it great, and dived in head first with blissful ignorance. And of course, many of them got hurt.

Your experience is pretty common, I think. Schools and communities need to have an open and honest conversation with kids about drugs and sex, or they lose all credibility.

My school experience was much like yours, but my parents were brutally honest. They told me that I could get drunk, smoke pot, and have sex without destroying my life, but there are risks involved. And they told me what they were in great detail, and they told me what to do to lessen those risks. Abstinence was their preferred method for me, but they weren't so naive to believe that would be that.

[Dreamstalker]

They told me that I could get drunk, smoke pot, and have sex without destroying my life, but there are risks involved. And they told me what they were in great detail, and they told me what to do to lessen those risks.
Exactly what my parents did as well. I was unlikely to be terribly interested in that stuff anyway (I didn't try pot until I was 27, and don't drink or smoke), but they figured that it would ultimately be better to let me make my own informed decisions rather than wait until something bad happened due to ignorant curiosity.

[DesignFox]

:eek: But they didn't teach you the dangers of being addicted to coffee, did they?

;)

Nope. I'm hopelessly addicted to hazelnut iced coffee...with skim milk... :D

[jedimaster91]

From what I remember of DARE, it wasn't all that helpful. My parents gave me the drug/alcohol/sex talk, and I was, quite frankly, not interested in any of the above for a long time because I knew what the consequences were. They scared me more than any cop could have, but more than that, I didn't want to lose their trust.

Although, I did win the DARE essay award in 5th grade. Go me! :D

[blas87]

I won the DARE speech contest, too. Got to go to Pizza Hut with all the other winners and announce my pledge to never do drugs.

Look at me now. I smoke like a chimney, spent most of my high school career as a proud pothead, lost my virginity at age 14, I have a drinking problem, and I've also experimented with mushrooms and cocaine.

For the record, I no longer smoke marijuana and I will never do any kind of recreational drugs again.

GO ME!!!!!

[powerboy]

I also won the DARE contest. Free pizza and a pledge to be drug free. Yet, I smoke cigs, drink, and all that Jazz.

I think that the DARE program would work still, if they don't sugar coat it. Just saying that you will get hurt is not going to work. You have to show them what will happen, if you do this and that. Back when I was in school, we had a kick ass cop that actually showed videos and what not.

[jedimaster91]

I agree the current program is pretty lame. Many of the kids see the effects of the drug culture first hand, and they accept it as normal. Very sad, IMO.

[Skunkle]

I was a "good kid", very much so. Went through DARE. I remember the officer we had was nice enough. Even at that age, I knew a lot of the terms for various drugs listed in the material we were given had to be very dated; to this day, I wonder whether that wasn't being out-of-step with the times, but rather avoiding passing us current terms we could use to actually get the stuff, as I'm sure police know the current words. Even then, when I saw a group of kids lighting dry grass on fire and inhaling the rising smoke - I asked what they were doing, and it seems they were trying to "smoke grass" like one's older brother said he did - I laughed. I didn't know much about the stuff, but I knew "doing it wrong" when I saw it. Don't know if DARE stopped me from doing drugs; I don't think I would have anyway. I didn't like the idea of screwing with my brain functions.

To this day, I'm pretty open, but not interested in the stuff personally. Know quite a few potheads and e-tards, will hang around trhem while they get high; avoid anyone who uses harder stuff; I DO drink alcohol and smoke, but refuse to touch cigarettes (they smell horrible, I can't imagine them tasting very good). I smoke a pipe. I know full well that smoking pot won';t destroy your life - but at the same time, most of the pot-heads I know get so mellow that they only want to flop on the couch, when I want to go take a walk.

[ben_who]

At our school we had ADAPT; I think this was before DARE really took off like a house fire. The opinion of the surrounding school district was that because we actually had a drug abuse prevention program that we were a cesspool of drugs and thuggery. Meanwhile, I was in college before I ever saw a joint. Of course, later, all those same schools discovered that by enrolling in similar programs, they could tap into the federal money tree, and suddenly we weren't such a cesspool anymore.

ADAPT was a very good brainwashing program, as far as that goes. The trouble with brainwashing is that when it wears off, the results can be pretty spectacular. I spent two years of high school convinced that a single sip of beer would leave me dead in the gutter with needle tracks between my toes within a month. That kind of relentless education can result in a pretty vicious backlash when the kids discover that risky behavior means just that - "risky" - and not "instant suicide." We were taught that beer was as potent as moonshine, that pot was no different from crack, and that protected sex was only slightly less risky than unprotected sex - and that any of these was essentially like toying with a loaded gun. Then the truth leaked through...

Love, Who?

[Mr Slugger]

The funny thing is our daughter went to dare classes, and in those classes they taught how to look out for drugs. Yet still thinks we roll our own cigarettes :p

As far as DARE now it's pretty crippled. Most towns don't have the money to support it, and in some towns they attempt to make themselves useful only in doing cigarette & liquor stings. Sure they still send an officer to talk to kids, but there's no dare van, no tshirts, nothing. And now that marijuana has been decriminalized in this state they've pretty much just given up.

[Bloodsoul]

All I remember from my DARE program as a kid was the officer mentioning the Hollywoodization of drug use, using the final scene of Independence Day with Steve and David smoking cigars as the example. I had already seen the film prior and wanted to make a comment that he may have taken the scene out of context (David realizing that smoking a cigar isn't quite as bad for his health as, say, being trapped in the mothership of an invading alien species bent on global destruction)...

...well, I decided to just keep my mouth shut instead.

[BroomJockey]

DARE never was useful. Kids aren't as stupid as DARE likes to think, so the total scare tactics of "everyone is doing drugs but you, and the drugs will kill you DEAD" doesn't work the millisecond that they meet someone who does drugs who isn't dead.

[SimplyAnother]

DARE never was useful. Kids aren't as stupid as DARE likes to think, so the total scare tactics of "everyone is doing drugs but you, and the drugs will kill you DEAD" doesn't work the millisecond that they meet someone who does drugs who isn't dead.

Heh, that was my thought too. When was DARE ever REALLY useful.


That said, I haven't ever done illegal drugs. But I'm not giving the DARE program any credit for that.

[BroomJockey]

That said, I haven't ever done illegal drugs. But I'm not giving the DARE program any credit for that.

I've never done any illegal drugs either. Nor had unprotected sex, nor have I repeatedly drunk myself stupid. And I never was in DARE at all. It came to my school about 2 years after I left. The weird part? I hung out with all the stoners and drinkers anyways. *lol*

[guywithashovel]

We had DARE when I was in middle school. It was kind of fun. If nothing else, it was a nice break from all the other stuff we had to do in school. We got to play some games and watch some videos, which were nice breaks from the normal school day.

I guess you could say it was somewhat effective on me. I've never touched weed, cocaine, or any other illegal substances. I do enjoy a drink every now and then---and even then it's usually some crappy American beer, which isn't much different from drinking Pepsi. I did experiment with cigarettes when I was in seventh and eighth grades. I was going through a phase then when I thought it was cool to smoke---mainly because many of my relatives smoked. But I gave that up when my parents caught me with some cigarettes. Since then, I have tried cigarettes and cigars off and on, but I always venture away from them pretty quickly. I don't like the way they make my hands, breath, and clothes smell. Plus, I'm a bit of a health nut. I don't like to do too many things that are unhealthy for me. This includes eating unhealthy foods.

[Flyndaran]

If they didn't tow the company line of BS, they might have an effect. Drugs are dangerous, because all drugs are dangerous, and even more so when not prescribed by a competent physician.
My only bad or even any kind of drug experiences have been from bad reactions to doctor prescribed ones. If someone that spent years learning about phsysiology could make a common mistake like that, then why should I think I know more about illicit pharamocology?