I remember a time when youth-sized D.A.R.E. and “Just Say NO!” t-shirts were worn by actual children.  Now I only spot these morality souvenirs rescued from the racks of a thrift store on the back of some facetious cynic who has seemingly not only has developed a taste for drugs/alcohol/tobacco in their young adulthood but also simultaneously a preference for visual irony. 

      As a child of the Republican 80’s and early 90’s I was acquainted first hand with Nancy Reagan’s “Just say NO!” program.  The main idea was that elementary school children could be armed with the tools to be able to actively identify and resist the peer-pressure to take or use drugs.  I can’t recall much about the program itself but I do remember that the t-shirts came in a variety of radioactive neon colors so I could mix and match my snap bracelets accordingly.  In fact, later on when I was in high school I even participated in running a youth drug-prevention program for elementary school children. 

      Then I went to college where for most of the student population binge drinking is a prerequisite.

      Last week I read an article in my local newspaper that said D.A.R.E. would be returning to my hometown school district.  Interesting, considering that I also remembered reading a few years ago that the US Surgeon General said that the program was “ineffective”.  While the Surgeon General lists some positives of the program, they add that there has been no evidence that those who go through the program are less likely to use drugs later on – other studies have even suggested that the program actually promotes drug use later on.  I then wondered how many kids I got addicted to drugs through my earlier involvement in the drug-prevention program.  (joke!) 

      To be fair, no one program can ever completely stop drug abuse, the idea is to curb that probability.  It can’t be as simple as that.  Common criticisms are that the program does not accurately reflect real world situations by reducing it all down to a few general slogans.  Also many children are exposed to the program at a very early age – before puberty, hormones, and real peer pressure situations would be encountered.  

      Idealistically these are goals that one would think positively of – to inform the youth and let them know what peer-pressure is so they can readily fight it and make their own decisions.  The program has also expanded to other problems such as violence, bullying, and other modern day problems such as cyber bullying and protecting your identity in the cyber-world.

      But if this is a program that is paid for by tax-dollars that our own government has deemed ineffective – what’s the point?  Some would argue that some program is better than no program – but if it’s useless then is it just the façade of compassion we are paying for?

      This all of course falls under the umbrella of the “War on Drugs” – which the effectiveness of said program could be debated ad nauseaum.  A war implies that drugs are the enemy – but why don’t we view drug addiction as an illness as we do with alcohol?  Which also begs the question why don’t we have a War on Violence?  A War on War might be more effective as it would encompass both of those.  But now we’re just in a hall of mirrors of concentric circles.

      To address the problem by informing the youth and allowing discussion is a better method than using scare tactics – but if we continue to use tax dollars to fund these programs we owe it to ourselves to find practical and effective alternatives.