Key Takeaways
- The DARE program launched in 1983 and grew into the most widely used school drug-prevention effort in the country.
- Decades of research, including a federal GAO review, found it did not reduce long-term drug use.
- DARE leaned on lectures and refusal slogans rather than the skills that truly shift behavior.
- Evidence-based substance abuse prevention programs that build real skills show far better results.
- DARE has since adopted a newer, interactive curriculum, and stronger alternatives now exist for families.
It is most likely a memory if you attended an American school in the 1990s. The policeman is in front of the room. The black T-shirt. The promise to just say no. For one generation, the DARE program was drug education, and it seemed to be everywhere because it nearly was. Something can be popular without being effective. Thirty years later, there is a nagging and persistent question about the program: Was it effective in preventing children from using drugs? Many were surprised at the response, and there is a reason it is important to know why.
Silicon Valley Recovery Center
What is the DARE program and Its Origins
DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) was originally established in 1983 as a collaboration between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District. It was a simple, common-sense idea: place a legitimate police officer in a classroom, teach students the risks of drug abuse, and empower them to reject offers of drugs. It was an idea that was embraced by schools as soon as it was introduced. Within about a decade, the DARE program had spread to schools across the country and was reaching millions of students each year. It became less a curriculum than a cultural phenomenon, complete with bumper stickers and graduation certificates.
The History of Drug Abuse Resistance Education in American Schools
Drug abuse resistance education history is closely tied to the War on Drugs era that gave birth to it. It was a fearful time, and DARE was a product of that fear. Officers taught drug facts, peer-pressure awareness, and refusal skills from a scripted set of lessons, typically to fifth- or sixth-grade students. The program was easy to fit into a school schedule, easy for parents to see, and hard to oppose politically, which explains how quickly it spread. It would take years before anyone stopped to ask if the entire thing was based on anything more solid than good intentions.
Core Components and Curriculum Structure
DARE, as a school-based drug prevention program, was based on a few common components that occurred in the program’s seventeen or so weekly lessons:
- Lectures that are full of information about the risks of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.
- Role play of refusal to an offered substance, using scripted dialogue.
- Emphasis on self-esteem and a public commitment to remain drug-free.
How the DARE program Was Intended to Prevent Substance Use
The reasoning behind DARE was fairly straightforward. Knowing the risks of drug use and practicing saying “no” would help children be prepared to refuse offers of drugs when they arise. Knowledge plus willpower. The DARE program was based on the premise that if a child had good information and a good anti-drug identity established early, it would see them through adolescence unscathed. A comforting theory, though. It’s an incomplete one, as the research revealed, as teenage decisions aren’t always based on facts.
Target Age Groups and Delivery Methods
The majority of the focus was on students on the cusp of adolescence, and the core lessons were delivered in an already familiar form.
- Primarily 5th and 6th grade students, who are just prior to the grades in which exposures tend to increase.
- 1 hour per week in person in the regular classroom.
- A police officer leading the room who has been sworn in and is supposed to provide authority and trust.
- Workbooks, group discussion, and a formal graduation, closing the program.
Scientific Research on DARE Program Effectiveness
For many years, DARE relied on the assumption that if it is so far-reaching, it must be effective. Researchers then began to measure the outcomes, and it wasn’t pretty. The harshest verdict came from the federal government. In six long-term assessments of DARE, the U.S. Government Accountability Office has not found any major differences in rates of illicit drug use among program participants and others. But as to the effectiveness of the DARE program, numbers were simply not cooperating and showing the payoff that everyone had hoped for.
Why Traditional Approaches Failed to Reduce Long-Term Drug Use
Researchers have pointed to several reasons why DARE failed to reduce drug use, most of them rooted in a mismatch between its methods and how teens actually make decisions:
- Scare tactics don’t work, and some studies have shown that they may even have a negative effect on naturally curious children.
- Lecturing is passive, but the skills that really help teens are learned through practicing them.
- One spurt of lessons in 6th grade wasn’t enough to hold up against greater social pressure several years later.
- An officer reading facts did nothing to address the social issues that often underlie why teens use drugs and alcohol to begin with.
Evidence-Based Substance Abuse Prevention Programs That Show Results
The good news in all this is that prevention works – at least when based on evidence, not intuition.
A research-based prevention guide listed in the NCJRS Virtual Library outlines principles showing that evidence-based substance abuse prevention programs should address real risk and protective factors in the family, school, and community, not just one-time gym assemblies.
| Original DARE approach | What the research favors |
| Scare tactics and one-way lectures | Interactive skill-building and honest discussion |
| A single program for everyone | Lessons matched to age and risk level |
| Officer delivering drug facts | Trained facilitators guiding peer practice |
Silicon Valley Recovery Center
Modern Approaches to Adolescent Substance Use Prevention
The field of prevention science has come a long way from the 1980’s. Current adolescent substance use prevention models see refusal as a skill, not a chant and believe that adolescents can detect a scare tactic from a mile away. Interactive programs tend to work the best. They have peer discussion, realistic scenarios and straight information, not exaggeration. They also make note of the changes in risks, such as vaping and misused prescription pills, which are now right next to the drugs DARE was initially established to combat.
School-Based Curricula That Work Today
Some programs have been tried and proven, and eventually, DARE itself replaced its original program with a new curriculum that was interactive and based on research. The thread that runs through school-based prevention is:
- Skills that are used and rehearsed, rather than taught once and forgotten.
- Content appropriate for the age and review as students mature.
- Trained facilitators who lead a dialogue rather than lecture the room.
Begin Recovery With Silicon Valley Recovery
Prevention is always the best first step, but life doesn’t always go to plan. Whether or not you grew up with scare tactics, if drugs or alcohol have already found their way into your family, it is more important to know what works today. Like effective prevention, good treatment is based on evidence and real skills – not slogans – and can alter the trajectory of a life.
If you are worried about a teen or struggling yourself, you do not have to face it armed with a bumper-sticker slogan. Reach out to Silicon Valley Recovery to talk with people who work in evidence-based treatment every day and can help you sort out the right next step. The earlier the conversation starts, the more options stay on the table.
Silicon Valley Recovery Center
FAQs
-
How effective is the DARE program at preventing drug use in teens?
By the measure that counts most, long-term drug use, the original DARE program showed little to no effect. Federal and academic reviews found that teens who went through DARE used drugs at roughly the same rates as those who did not.
-
What are the main reasons the DARE program failed to reduce substance abuse?
It leaned on scare tactics and one-way lectures, which do not change behavior and can even spark curiosity. A single stretch of lessons in sixth grade also could not withstand years of later social pressure. In short, the DARE program handed kids information without building the skills and support that truly steer teen choices.
-
Which evidence-based substance abuse prevention programs work better than DARE?
Programs grounded in skill-building and interaction tend to outperform the old DARE model, including curricula like LifeSkills Training and the keepin’ it REAL program now used by DARE itself. The National Institute on Drug Abuse points toward prevention that targets risk and protective factors across home, school, and community.
-
At what age should parents introduce conversations about drug prevention with their children?
Earlier and more often than most parents expect, with simple, honest talks starting in the elementary years and growing more detailed as a child matures. Rather than one big dramatic talk, prevention works best as an ongoing conversation woven into everyday life. Keeping the door open matters more than getting every word exactly right.
-
Can modern approaches to adolescent substance use prevention address today’s challenges like vaping and prescription drugs?
Yes, and the better ones already do. Modern approaches to adolescent substance use prevention are designed to adapt, folding in current risks like vaping and prescription drug misuse instead of fighting the last decade’s battles.
References
U.S. Government Accountability Office. Youth Illicit Drug Use Prevention: DARE Long-Term Evaluations and Federal Efforts to Identify Effective Programs. https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-03-172r.
NCJRS Virtual Library. Preventing Drug Use among Children and Adolescents: A Research-Based Guide for Parents, Educators, and Community Leaders. https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/preventing-drug-use-among-children-and-adolescents-research-based-2.
