LOCAL DARE COORDINATOR DISPUTES NEW STUDY

Sam Duncan believes in the DARE program despite results of a recent study panning the program's effectiveness.

Duncan, drug-free coordinator for Jackson schools, said he believes Drug Abuse Resistance Education classes do make a difference in the lives of students.

The DARE program is the nation's largest anti-drug abuse program. The 17-week program is taught to fifth- or sixth-graders in the classroom by a uniformed police officer.

Officers provide information about alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. They also provide strategies to help students resist peer pressure to use or abuse drugs.

"We're going on our fifth year working with sixth-grade students," said Duncan. "We have been very pleased with the program."

Duncan said he doesn't put much stock in a recent long-term study conducted at the University of Kentucky at Louisville which found that DARE has little effect on whether children use drugs, alcohol or cigarettes.

The study, which tracked more than 1,000 DARE students in Fayette County, Ky., over a 10-year period, found some initial improvements in the students' attitudes about drug use but few long-term effects in attitudes or decision-making.

"There are so many studies that say so many things," Duncan said. "One that I had read was that sometimes in the middle level years the students may not act upon everything they're taught, but later on they remember and they use those things they were taught in the middle years."

Some 80 percent of school districts in the nation have DARE programs. The classes are paid for by DARE America of Inglewood, Calif., with private and corporate donations, but the salaries of the police officers leading the classes are at public expense.

Many area school districts have or would like to provide the program to students. DARE officers must undergo special training provided by the Missouri Highway Patrol.

In February, Bollinger County commissioners said they hoped to work with the county's four public school districts to obtain a grant to establish a DARE program. The money would be used to hire an additional officer in the sheriff's department to teach the program.

Meadow Heights had a DARE officer in the 1995-1996 school year. The officer worked for the Southeast Missouri State University Department of Public Safety. She left to take a job with the Missouri Highway Patrol. Since then, no area law enforcement agency has had an available DARE officer for the school district.

Duncan said DARE officers do more than teach students to avoid drugs. The officers also develop good relations with students and teach them to trust police officers. That's the first step in developing law-abiding citizens, he said.

"I think it's good for students to see the officer in that capacity," Duncan said. "You can't really do a study about that."

While DARE is a good first step, Duncan said it should not be the only component of drug awareness education in schools. Other programs taught by community leaders, teachers and peers should be taught in conjunction with parent education in order for students to successfully resist drugs, he said.

"We have 17 drug-free programs as a part of the drug-free grant that mirror what we do with DARE," said Duncan. "We just have to use a comprehensive approach."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.