Truth or DARE: A Literature Review of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education

This paper reviews and analyzes a selection of scientific studies, analyses, and meta-analyses of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program referred to as DARE, as well as subsequent reviews and discussions of those studies published between the years 1992 and 2004. The hypothesis is that these studies in their totality confirm the results of earlier evaluations of the DARE program and show that DARE is ineffective in preventing drug abuse among its participants. The strategies, techniques and approaches of DARE are reviewed to look at their history of effectiveness individually as well as a comprehensive approach as employed in the DARE curriculum. Also considered is the debate as to whether other anti-drug use programs may show greater efficacy, or that no education program can truly be effective in combating drug use among adolescents. The evidence documenting the lack of efficacy of DARE is so overwhelming as to merit a discussion as to why it remains so popular and how to harness it