D.A.R.E.: did it work?

Let's take a "trip" back in time and see if the feel-good program really worked.

D.A.R.E., Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

We all remember this, being around 12 years old and having a police officer show up to class to tell us various ways "drugs" can ruin lives. Things such as "Marijuana will get you hooked after one puff", "mushrooms are much like acid and they both will make you see cartoon characters" (how this one is perceived as negative I will never know) and "smoking a single cigarette will make you want to do heroin"

We had to watch feel good videos like the one shown above, which featured many of our cartoon favorites reminding us how bad it is to smoke weed. (Even though earlier the police officer said this is a common effect of drugs like acid and mushrooms). And then make us write an essay about how drugs are bad.

But flash forward to adulthood, how many of us have never smoked a cigarette, had a beer, or tried another recreational substance? Very few. So did D.A.R.E. work? Was it a good use of tax dollars to have a police officer come in and talk to us about "drugs"? The answer to these questions is no.

At the end of the day, D.A.R.E. really means Drugs Are Really Expensive, or Drugs Are Recreational Enjoyment, your choice.

Comments

way too short... I feel like you have a good idea here just not long enough. i do vividly remember D.A.R.E. though but thats not what has kept me from smoking cigarettes or drugs just pure common sense and a few pictures I have seen of people on drugs and a smokers lung. But notice I didn't exclude drinking I am guilty of that even if only occasionally

I remember the 'beer' and 'cigarette' part being 'not till you're an adult' thing. The American Lung Association had something where they went from school to school handing out matchbooks with no striking end and pictures of the brain blood clots and the destroyed lungs. Mother Against Drunk Driving, or MADD were the one's that never wanted you to take a sip of beer which I can't really fault them for as most of them that talked in schools lost a child under 18 to alcohol related accidents, I'd probably feel the exact same way if I went through what they did. I don't know, it worked for me, I don't smoke or drink even though both my parents do. I believe in making Marijuana legal because it is a much better alternative to pain killers, tobacco, and alcohol so I don't think I'm brainwashed or anything. You obviously don't feel too strongly either, you only wrote the equivalent of 2 paragraphs on the subject.

I feel this could have been longer