The drug abuse prevention program DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) has been taught in school for decades. Despite its widespread use, however, it is no more effective than no program at all, according to empirical studies quoted by David Hanson, Ph.D. and other researchers. In some cases, the students who participated in school DARE programs had more drug abuse experience than those who did not have any training. In 1997, a U.S. Department of Education Study administered by The Research Triangle Institute showed that programs other than the traditional school-based DARE program were effective in reducing drug abuse long-term, but the program was not effective by any empirical measure.
Because the DARE program is generally taught by police officers in schools, many people assume that the program is developed, funded and administered by public safety officers. However, this is not so. According to ProCon, the program is an international 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that was founded in 1983. The budget for administering the program was $6.6 million in 2008. Although the public has the impression that the money spent goes to the police, this is also not the case -- the money goes to the nonprofit DARE organization. Economist Edward Shepard estimates the actual cost of administering the program to be $1 to $1.3 billion annually, after factoring in police officer training, service and time, school supplies and school resources. One school administrator called DARE a "multimillion dollar conglomerate in the business of selling T-shirts."
The common approach for the DARE program is to create a "bad world" scenario in the minds of children, convincing them that most of their peers drink and use drugs and will try to influence others to do so. Some psychologists believe this approach is counterproductive and does not reflect reality. For example, Michael Haines from the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention suggests a "Social Norms" approach to drug abuse prevention. He says that demonstrating through empirical studies that the actual drug and alcohol use among students' peers is quite low helps children realize they don't need to abuse drugs or alcohol to fit in.
Mayor Tim Balderman of the Village of New Lenox, Ill. said students tell him often that the DARE program introduced them to drugs. He worries that programs like DARE in schools give parents the false idea that the school is taking care of teaching kids to avoid drugs, so that parents will not take charge of their children's education. The false security of an institutionalized drug training program in the schools prevents some schools and administrators from taking a critical look at DARE and finding other viable solutions that actually work.