There has been a rise in the drug education budget due to the increasing incidence of drug use among children. Statistics have shown that marijuana use among children between 12 and 17 has increased 3% from 1992 to 1994. While there has been an increase in federal spending for drug prevention programs, studies have not shown them to be effective (Gorman, 1997).
Lennon (1999) stated that over half of the United Kingdom's children have tried drugs by the age of fifteen.
He stated that the social and economic costs in terms of drug-related crime, sickness, and work absenteeism were estimated at around $6 billion. Other cost factors such as family breakup and social exclusion, which are harder to calculate, may make this estimate even higher.
The purpose of this study is to assess the extent to which the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program is effective in reducing the number of children using drugs.
The following research questions will be focused on in this study:
What are the long-term effects of the DARE program on reducing drug abuse in children?
Which of the DARE program objectives have been shown to be effective?
What improvements, if any, can be made to improve the effectiveness of the DARE program on reducing childhood drug abuse?
How is the DARE program ineffective?
Why is the DARE program ineffective?
The following hypotheses will be tested to answer the research questions:
H1: Students who take part in the DARE program will report significantly less drug and alcohol use than students who do not take part in the DARE program.
H2: Students who take part in the DARE program will exhibit significantly more knowledge about drug and alcohol use than students who do not take part in the DARE program.
This project will be designed to evaluate research previously conducted on the DARE program. Research that has been conducted on the program has resulted in controversial concl...