D.A.R.E. in 2023? It Still Exists…

In the world of substance misuse prevention, there’s one thing that is a common experience across generations: the D.A.R.E program. D.A.R.E, which stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is a program in which trained officers go into K-12 schools to teach about substance use prevention traditionally from a lens of abstinence. Depending on when you grew up, you might have been around when their tagline was “Say No to Drugs!” which really captures the essence of their program. 

The reason we’re bringing D.A.R.E back up is because a report was released this year evaluating the program’s efficacy in elementary schools, and they made some big conclusions that might have larger consequences for youth education about substance use. Essentially, the study found the program to be very beneficial and effective at preventing substance use and initiation for 5th graders in the program. Although the study had some novel evaluation methods, there are some pretty glaring limitations that are important to consider when reviewing their claims. 

First, the population was 5th graders that underwent the program. 5th graders have a low incidence of alcohol use and vaping (both of which were studied) and was even noted in the review. Additionally, the follow-up was only 4 months after the post-program assessment, which doesn’t provide much information on long-term effects of the program. Combined, these two aspects of the study’s design really limit the conclusions pulled.  

Although today’s version of the D.A.R.E program is meant to focus on some of the ‘softer skills’ of prevention like communication, boundaries, etc., taking a broad stance to say the program is effective is a stretch when historically data has shown no improvement or very minimal positive impact.  

Why is it important to talk about this? It doesn’t sound like it’s doing harm to youth?  

Well, when we read a report like this and the headline says “Evidence-based, successful and effective”, then policy makers and school boards will see that and set D.A.R.E as the standard in schools. After decades of people doing work in harm reduction, like safer-sex and safer-drug use, we know that abstinence-based education doesn’t work and is a disservice to our younger populations.

We know that people are going to have sex and do drugs, so it’s important to provide them with the education, tools and resources to navigate them through a safer approach.  

At Bee the Vibe, we strive to provide trauma-informed harm reduction education and resources to everyone. From youth still in school, to adults navigating new experiences and everyone in-between. We provide free education sessions both 1-on-1 and in group settings, so we’re more than willing to come hang out at a school, organization or community group and talk all things harm reduction!  

If you’re interested in having us present to your community about tangible harm reduction strategies around substance use, please email us at beethevibe@mhbhc.org.