DARE review to come

Tuesday,  June 7, 2005

The international Drug Abuse Resistance Education programme (DARE) – a 10-week, drug-deterrent teaching syllabus, is to be reviewed. Although some have applauded the programme, here in the Cayman Islands in other territories the programme has been criticised based on research that suggests the programme is ineffective.

Drugs and violence have been a hot topic for the Cayman Islands over the past few months and in light of the challenges posed to law enforcement recently, an even more intense spotlight has been turned on all activity surrounding these two areas.

One resulting focus has been the extent to which youngsters are becoming drug users and, against this background, there has been interest in an assessment of the DARE programme.

The international programme was established in 1983 in the US as a law enforcement-led programme. Since DARE started here in 2000 under the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) Inspector Adrian Seales has played an integral role in spearheading its syllabus.

“We have not had an evidence-based assessment of the programme since it began. From the start it was our intention to do this in the fifth year of the programme. This assessment would have already been done, however, Hurricane Ivan prevented this. We still intend to do this later this year,” Inspector Seales explained.

“DARE was first mounted as a pilot study in three schools, George Town, John A Cumber and Savannah Primary Schools. We found that that went quite well and so in 2001 the programme was extended to all Government Primary Schools. By 2002 we included private schools and in the following year we included schools on Cayman Brac. However, up to now, the programme is only done at Grade six.

“To qualify for graduation from the programme the children simply have to participate by doing the required course work. Even though the programme is optional, that is, parents can opt not to have their children participate, I cannot recall any parent giving this directive. Each year we graduate approximately six hundred students. This year, our 15 June graduation will include 500. We have had good feedback from parents and students.”

Inspector Seales said that one of the factors that influenced this review was that “kids (got) a kick out of the interaction with a police officer.”

Dr Marcus Day, Director, Caribbean Drug Abuse Research Institute however pointed to information that discredited the programme. 

“There have been numerous evaluations of DARE, there is a body of evidence-based literature that has shown that the programme has not been effective in the area in which it originated,” he said. “The fact is, despite the spending levels on abstinence-only curricula, programmes like these fail to deter youthful experimentation. According to a recent government survey, (in the US) 54 per cent of High School students have experimented with an illegal drug despite 20 years of ‘Just Say No’ messages.

“Evidence shows the programme engenders a law enforcement response rather than a health response. Among youth, it has been shown that top-of-the-mind awareness revolves more around the criminality related to the use of drugs rather than physical aspect of the effect of the substance on the body.”

Figures from the Cayman Islands National Drug Council show the increased use of marijuana as a drug of choice among young people over the period 1997 to 2003 moved from number 4 in the ranking to number two. The figures seem to also imply increased use spread, because of the easier access to this drug as opposed to others.

, “It is always useful to have a survey done before any particular assessment is made,” said Catherine Chesnut, National Drug Council CEO.

For a proper assessment of the topic, factors that could influence the success of such a programme in one region and prejudice its outcomes in another could be examined.

Psychiatrist, Dr Marc Lockhart said, “The approach to discipline, parental involvement, overall size and affluence of the society, how accepted certain substances are in a society and the number of substances that the child is exposed to, could create a difference in the success of such a programme in one region as opposed to another.”

However another source pointed out that drug abuse, like many other issues that societies around the world must contend with, is fast becoming a borderless one – with very similar profiles from start to finish.

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