Pot times July 20, 2005
Hebron To Take On Dare
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n1146/a05.htmlNewshawk: Herb
Pubdate: Sun, 17 Jul 2005 HEBRON TO TAKE ON D.A.R.E.
Source: Times, The (Munster IN)
Copyright: 2005 The Munster Times
Contact:
letters@nwitimes.com
Website: http://www.nwitimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/832
Author: Elizabeth Holmes
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm
(D.A.R.E.)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm
(Youth)
Police Chief Will Lead Program Despite Critics
Hebron Police Chief Steve Sibbrell faced a group of youngsters during a two-week
training session for new Drug Abuse Resistance Education instructors last month.
Sibbrell, who will launch the D.A.R.E. program with Hebron fifth-graders
this fall, was a little taken aback.
"You got all these little eyes looking at you," he said.
"You're like, 'Oh, God, I don't want to screw up.'"
While Sibbrell, who has shouldered the task of getting the program started, is
fully prepared to teach the students, critics of D.A.R.E. say no matter
what he does, it won't work. More than a dozen studies have concluded the
program's curriculum is flawed and, as a result, ineffective.
Yet Sibbrell, along with many others, thinks having some sort of drug abuse
prevention program in place is better than not having one at all.
"For the critics, you're always gonna have 'em," Sibbrell said.
"If you can save one or two people out of what you're doing, I would think
it would be a plus."
D.A.R.E. began in Los Angeles in 1983, with the goal of educating
elementary school kids about substance abuse and decision-making, while boosting
self-esteem. According to the program's website, 36 million children
worldwide participate in D.A.R.E. every year.
Over the past two decades, several studies, some of them long-term, have tried
to gauge D.A.R.E.'s effectiveness.
One study, from the University of Kentucky and published by the American
Psychological Association, surveyed more than 1,000 20-year-olds who received
D.A.R.E. or a standard drug-education curriculum while they were in
sixth-grade. The study found no difference between the two groups in terms
of actual drug use and attitudes toward drugs. Perceived self-esteem was
no different either.
The same conclusion was reached by a 1998 study from the University of Chicago,
which surveyed nearly 1,800 students in urban, suburban and rural Illinois every
year for six years.
"The results indicated that D.A.R.E. had no long-term effects on a
wide range of drug use measures," the study stated.
D.A.R.E. critics have deterred other schools in Porter County from using
the program.
"I'm not slamming D.A.R.E.," Valparaiso police Detective Capt.
Curt Hawkins said. "There's some controversy involved in that, for
one thing, and we don't like controversy."
Instead, Valparaiso Community Schools uses the GREAT, or Gang Resistance
Education and Training, which is aimed at middle-schoolers.
Hawkins said the effectiveness of a program depends on a lot of factors --
including the teaching technique and instructors -- but agreed with Sibbrell
that "anything's better than nothing."
MSD of Boone Township Superintendent George Letz echoed that sentiment.
"The way I look at it is if it keeps one student from experimenting with
drugs, then it's worth it," Letz said.
Sibbrell is devoted to making D.A.R.E. a positive asset to the Hebron
community -- and without spending the community's assets. For his D.A.R.E.
vehicle, Sibbrell rebuilt a car that was totalled in a wreck. Funding for
D.A.R.E. will come from donations and money confiscated in drugs heists in
Hebron.
Sibbrell said he has worked to get the program started because he believes in
what it does.
"We're giving them the knowledge to make the right decision, to not use
drugs and inhalants and tobacco," he said. "We're hoping that
they take that information that we give them and use that as an extra tool for
themselves."
