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DARE

Carter Cane Tiago Sikta Julius Brower

Linfield Christian School/CUNE

Introduction to Psychology

Professor Jesse

9-15-23

Does the Drug Abuse Resistance Education “D.A.R.E '' help kids stay away from drugs

or introduces them to drugs and its negative effects. In this program students will get talked to by

teachers/police officers, watch videos and even get some lectures. The students are put on a 16

week program with protocol-driven instructions. The targeted audience is for 5th graders who are

starting middle school and will be continued into the beginning of 6th grade. This program has

been around since 1983. In recent years though, D.A.R.E. has come together to revise and make

it better. They changed the name of D.A.R.E. to keepin’ it REAL which will be talked about in

the later sections. Throughout three articles titled “The Effectiveness of D.A.R.E”,”Project

D.A.R.E outcome Effectiveness Revisited”, and ”The New D.A.R.E Program-This One Works”

evidence was provided on why D.A.R.E was or was not an effective program. (Clayton,

Catarello, and Johnstone, 1996) did a 5 year longitudinal evaluations and stated that, “D.A.R.E is

the most widely disseminated school based prevention curriculum in the United States''
 D.A.R.E is effective because most students are impacted positively. “Significant

intervention effects in the hypothesized direction were observed during the 7th grade for

measures of students’ general and specific attitudes toward drugs, the capability to resist peer

pressure, and estimated level of drug use by peers”(Clayton, Catarello, and Johnstone, 1996).

After completion of the program, students’ in the 7th grade were more capable of resisting drug

use, even when drug use was at an all time high. “The results of this study underscore the need

for more robust prevention programming targeted specifically at risk factors”(Clayton, Catarello,

and Johnstone, 1996). The effectiveness of D.A.R.E overshadows the need to implement other

programs within D.A.R.E to account for other factors and situations. In conclusion, D.A.R.E is

incredibly effective, that when other problems arise that they didn’t find a reason to implement

new parts of the program at the time, since then they had revised their program into keepin’ it

REAL.

Keepin’ it REAL is even more effective than D.A.R.E. This revision is the best thing that

has happened to DARE in a while. There are many studies that support that Keepin’ it REAL is

effective because studies show that, “32% to 44% reduction in marijuana, tobacco, and alcohol

use, 29% to 34% decrease in intent to accept substances, and Reduction and cessation in substance

use among those already using” (Why D.A.R.E., n.d.). These statistics from the quote above show

how in recent years the program has been effective. The rebrand to Keepin’ it REAl has

impacted the youth to not partake in indulging in drugs and alcohol. Reduction in marijuana

tobacco, and alcohol is now 12% larger decrease due to the reformations that they made On a

Surgeon General report he states, “The good news is that there is strong scientific evidence

supporting the effectiveness of prevention programs and policies” (Why D.A.R.E., n.d.). The

curriculum of Keepin’ it REAL is among the number of different programs the General states as
building social, emotional, cognitive, and substance refusal skills that show the accuracy of how

Keepin’ it REAL is effective and accurate. Also this information is coming from a Surgeon

General who has a good basis on the topic and is informed of the program and supports that it is

a good movement and effective.

All and all based on evidence we provided, we can conclude that DARE was somewhat

effective and had the right ideas, just not executed well enough to have a lasting impact on

society. However, their revision of introducing the new program Keepin’ it REAL, we can see

that their numbers are greater and are having a greater impact. Without DARE being such an

important program in the late 1980s to early 2000’s, there may have never been a thought to

introducing Keepin’ it REAL and other organizations that want to help eliminate drug abuse and

alcohol in kids' lives growing up.

 References
Clayton, R.R., Catarello, A.M., Johnstone, B.M. (1996).

The effectiveness of D.A.R.E .Academic Press Inc. retrieved from

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/dare/

effectiveness.html

Nordrum A. (2014). The new D.A.R.E program-this one works

Scientific American, Inc. retrieved from

The New D.A.R.E. Program—This One Works | D.A.R.E. America

(dare.org)

West, S. L., & O'Neal, K. K.

(2004, June). Project D.A.R.E. Outcome Effectiveness

Revisited. UNCW. Retrieved September 28, 2023, from

http://people.uncw.edu/imperialm/UNCW/PLS_506/

AJPH_DARE_MetaAnalysis_2004_94_6_1027.pdf

Why D.A.R.E. (n.d.). D.A.R.E. America.

Retrieved October 5, 2023, from https://dare.org/why-d-

a-r-e/