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North Carolina Parent Questions DARE Program

DRUG EDUCATION

January 1993

Chapel Hill parent and frequent NewsBriefs contributor Steve Wallace is urging the Chapel Hill-Carrboro, North Carolina public schools to stop having police officers teach drug education to students (Susan Kauffman, "Parent Doubts Dare: Panel to Review Drug Program," Triangle Observer, 12/17/92, 1F).

Wallace, who has been a persistent critic of the program through both personal action and a frequent local news column, has cited the absence of evidence that the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, which is taught by uniformed police officers, has any significant effect in deterring youthful drug abuse. He has urged school officials to have professional substance abuse counselors, rather than police, teach drug education.