In the mid-1980s when the crack epidemic was in full swing, there  were a number of public programs and policies put into place that  promised to curb drug trafficking and thus addiction. Many of these  policies centered around a mentality of abstinence and zero tolerance,  such as mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes, as well as  “educational” programs like “Just Say No” or “DARE.” 

Nearly 40 years later, it is clear that the establishment’s “War on  Drugs” has done nothing to prevent drug addiction, and has instead  created a long list of other problems, like violent criminal black  markets where tainted drugs are the norm. The generation that grew up on  DARE and Just Say No is now experiencing an unprecedented rate of  heroin addiction with an overwhelming number of overdoses. 

If the evidence in front of your eyes is not enough to convince you,  consider the fact that every single study done on the infamous DARE  program showed that it was ineffective at best, and counterproductive at  worst. As a result, the organization has seen their revenue dwindle  over the years, falling from $10 million in 2002 to $3.7 million in  2010. 

DARE was founded in Los Angeles in 1983 as a joint initiative of  then-LAPD chief Daryl Gates and the Los Angeles Unified School District,  and quickly infected 75 percent of the school districts in the US, and  eventually expanding out to 43 different countries. “We’re going to condemn those people who casually use drugs in this nation,” Gates once said of the program. 

The first study testing the effectiveness of the DARE program was  conducted at Indiana University in 1992. In the study, researchers found  that students who went through the program were statistically more likely to take hallucinogenic drugs. Two years later, in 1994, a study  by three RTI International scientists determined that the program had  little or no impact on students’ drug use.” 

According to the Los Angeles Times, DARE America executive director Glenn Levant admitted that his organization spent $41,000 to try to prevent widespread distribution of the RTI study as it was being published, and even attempted legal action to prevent its release. 

After the incident, the director of publication for the American Journal of Public Health told USA Today that “D.A.R.E. has tried to interfere with the publication of this. They tried to intimidate us.” 

The following year, in 1995, a report to the California Department of  Education by Joel Brown Ph.D. showed how an overwhelming number of  students had negative feelings about the program and did not trust the  adults involved either. 

Eventually, in 1998, the National Institute of Justice got involved with their own report and concluded that DARE programs actually had the opposite of their intended effect, and made children more interested in drugs. 

A few years later, the program suffered a crucial blow when the Surgeon General of the United States, David Satcher M.D. Ph.D., placed the DARE program in the category of “Ineffective Primary Prevention Programs,” in 2001. 

Then, in 2007, the APS journal, Perspectives on Psychological Science listed the program as potentially harmful. In the years since many other studies have followed and all have had  the same results: the DARE curriculum of fear and abstinence has done  more harm than good. 

Instead, many experts are beginning to suggest that harm reduction is the best theme for drug education. Examples of harm reduction tactics would be needle exchange programs, drug testing kits at raves, or supervised safe injection sites—just  to name a few. 

Teaching condom use for sexual education, instead of  abstinence is another example of how harm prevention is applied to other  social issues. Insanely enough, despite its horrific track record, DARE is still a  major force in public school drug programs today, and it is still  peddling much of the same propaganda. 

However, its influence has been  dwindling, and it has been forced to make some changes to keep up with  the times. Sadly, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said last year that he  would like the current administration to breathe new life into the dying  the program. 

“I believe that DARE was instrumental to our success by educating  children on the dangers of drug use. I firmly believe that you have  saved lives. And I want to say thank you for that. Whenever I ask adults  around age 30 about prevention, they always mention the DARE program.  Your efforts work. Lives and futures are saved. We know it worked before and we can make it work again,” Sessions told an audience at the Drug Abuse Resistance Education International Training Conference in Texas last summer. 

Resources like Dance Safe or Erowid  have done much more to educate people about drugs than any  government-affiliated program has, and there is no doubt that these  organizations have saved many lives. 

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I wrote this @ http://thefreethoughtproject.com/every-major-study-done-on-the-dare-drug-program-shows-it-was-a-total-failure/

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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY:

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My name is John Vibes and I am an author and researcher who organizes a number of large events including the Free Your Mind Conference. I write for numerous alternative media websites, including The Free Thought Project @tftproject and The Mind Unleashed. In addition to my first book, Alchemy of the Timeless Renaissance, I have also co-authored three books with Derrick Broze @dbroze : The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality, Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion and Manifesto of the Free Humans

I just won a 3-year-long battle with cancer, and will be working to help others through my experience, if you wish to contribute to my medical bills, consider subscribing to my podcast on Patreon.