As a student at one of the west coast's finest universities, I can assure you that not only is DARE's message ineffective, but that it is flat out WRONG as well.
The average student at my school had an SAT score in the range of 1500. The average student at my school also smokes massive amounts of weed. Furthermore, many also indulge in occasional usage of other, "harder" drugs such as LSD, mushrooms, and MDMA.
Had I believed DARE, I would have expected the academic structure of this campus to have disintigrated long ago. Imagine how I would have been surprised to learn that things have been operating like this around here since the mid 1960s!
It gets crazier, though--- apparently, the city in which my school is located has been just as liberal on drug use as have the students for decades now. Had I believed the most basic concepts taught in DARE, I would be expecting this place to be a crumbling wasteland full of smelly hippies and heroin addicts. Imagine what my surprise would have been when I arrived to find the bustling urban space that it is! Yes, my city has its problems, but they are they type that are representative of economic growth and prosperity; i.e., housing costs, traffic, etc.
I guess what I'm saying is that most intelligent young people don't buy the DARE message. We know that drug use in moderation does not make one a burned out, apathetic slacker. Instead of spreading misinformation and using scare tactics, why doesn't DARE teach kids to be intelligent in their decisions? Explain to them that the individual with self control can succeed even while using drugs. Teach them the true dangers of drug use (and maybe even explain to them that most of those dangers only exist because the drugs are illegal and thus unregulated), but most of all, stop lying to America's children. Sooner or later, most of those kids are gonna find out that their DARE cop was full of shit, and once they do, the entire message is lost.
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The average student at my school had an SAT score in the range of 1500. The average student at my school also smokes massive amounts of weed. Furthermore, many also indulge in occasional usage of other, "harder" drugs such as LSD, mushrooms, and MDMA.
Had I believed DARE, I would have expected the academic structure of this campus to have disintigrated long ago. Imagine how I would have been surprised to learn that things have been operating like this around here since the mid 1960s!
It gets crazier, though--- apparently, the city in which my school is located has been just as liberal on drug use as have the students for decades now. Had I believed the most basic concepts taught in DARE, I would be expecting this place to be a crumbling wasteland full of smelly hippies and heroin addicts. Imagine what my surprise would have been when I arrived to find the bustling urban space that it is! Yes, my city has its problems, but they are they type that are representative of economic growth and prosperity; i.e., housing costs, traffic, etc.
I guess what I'm saying is that most intelligent young people don't buy the DARE message. We know that drug use in moderation does not make one a burned out, apathetic slacker. Instead of spreading misinformation and using scare tactics, why doesn't DARE teach kids to be intelligent in their decisions? Explain to them that the individual with self control can succeed even while using drugs. Teach them the true dangers of drug use (and maybe even explain to them that most of those dangers only exist because the drugs are illegal and thus unregulated), but most of all, stop lying to America's children. Sooner or later, most of those kids are gonna find out that their DARE cop was full of shit, and once they do, the entire message is lost.