WaPo | Not everyone in the public health community is convinced the new DARE is any better than the old DARE. A peer-reviewed study published last year found that the specific versions of the keepin’ it REAL curriculum used by DARE haven’t been tested for efficacy.
“The
systematic review revealed major shortfalls in the evidence basis for
the KiR D.A.R.E. programme,” that study’s authors conclude. "Without
empirical evidence, we cannot conclusively confirm or deny the
effectiveness of the programme. However, we can conclude that the
evidence basis for the D.A.R.E. version of KiR is weak, and that there
is substantial reason to believe that KiR D.A.R.E. may not be suited for
nationwide implementation."
There’s no doubt, however, that DARE
is currently making an effort to adopt more of an evidence-based
approach than in prior years, when the program’s practices were largely
driven by the belief that they were "pure as the driven snow." This
brings us back to the central irony of Jeff Sessions’s remarks on Tuesday, when he yearned for a return to the DARE of “the 1980s and the 1990s.”
Decades
of research are unequivocal: The DARE of yesteryear didn’t work, and it
may have actually made the drug problem worse. Instead of embracing
DARE’s new evidence-based practices, Sessions offered up a return to the
bad old days of drug policy, when decisions were driven by gut feeling
and political expediency.
We already know how that story ended: billions of dollars spent, millions of people imprisoned and stronger, cheaper drugs.
DARE is already trying to turn the page on the harsh and ineffective
drug policies of the past. At the moment, it appears the Justice
Department is trying to revive them.
