elius 1D+). Some people find that the problem with this one-sided program, is not so much the coursework, but the instruction. D.A.R.E. is taught by police officers that have gone through so-called special social training sessions, and the D.A.R.E. program offers up these officers as social workers. Steve Wallace, an activist who is affiliated with the group Parents Against D.A.R.E., goes as far to say: “I am personally an advocate of effective prevention in the schools, but a police officer is the wrong messenger to accomplish that mission” (Sebelius 1D+). The “mission” Wallace is referring to is that officers of the D.A.R.E. program are now doing social work in the schools, this is clearly a conflict of interest of the police department, as they are not social workers. An unnamed source went as far to say “having the police teach your children about drugs is almost ironic as having the Pope teach them sex education” (qtd. in Sebelius 1D+). But if D.A.R.E. isn’t doing the job, what kind of program can? Could a program that didn’t use police officers do better? What would this kind of program cost?With the ineffective D.A.R.E. program drawing an estimated seven hundred fifty million dollars annually, obviously funding educational programs is going to be quite the problem (Gordon 72). However, with D.A.R.E.’s saturation approach it is easy to see where all the money is going. D.A.R.E. immerses children with an entourage of D.A.R.E. pencils, D.A.R.E. buttons, D.A.R.E. stickers, D.A.R.E. music videos, and D.A.R.E. T-shirts. It is apparent to see that the program spends more on advertising and promotion that on educational materials. D.A.R.E., which goes far beyond the labels of ineffective and overpriced, cannot be effectively reformed or restructured. Such a useless and costly program must be completely dismantled and replaced. If we had a program that was based in the c...
