Dare to replace DARE with an effective program Throughout the history of humanity, drugs have always been present in society. ¬¬¬¬¬Some societies have accepted them and incorporated them into their core, while others have demonstrated fervent opposition to their very existence. Our own company can be classified into the latter group. Our government is waging a vendetta against drugs that includes a decades-long war on drugs as well as a strong push to educate our nation's youth about the dangers of drugs through school programs. Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or DARE, is one such program. After a review of the program's effectiveness, the potential for increased abuse, and the program's budget, it becomes clear that DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is not the best way to combat drug abuse and drug abuse. alcohol among adolescents. There is a commonly held assumption that any program aimed at keeping children away from drugs is a program full of merit, unfortunately this is not the case in DARE West and O'Neal's 2004 metadata analysis of the The effectiveness of the DARE program, which was boosted by an increase in reported drug and alcohol abuse among high school students, concluded that the DARE program had little or no impact on levels of abuse . Any positive impact reported was minimal and resolved by the study's margin of error. Specifically, of the 11 studies included in West and O'Neal's analysis, one found the program to have a negative effect, four found it to have no effect at all, and the other six found almost a positive effect. indistinguishable (West and O'Neal). Néal 04). An analysis by the Surgeon General found that there was no difference in drug use among students who participated in the middle...... article appears to be sufficient to provide an effective program, but that is not the case. In fact, program officials refused to even hear data that their program might need to be changed to maintain its effectiveness, and dismissed those presenting the data as proponents of teen drug use (Zernike 01). The problem with this argument is that it ignores all other potential reasons behind their data analysis using an either/or logical fallacy (Weber and Brizee 14). The supposedly beneficial DARE program has many major problems. The lack of effectiveness, increased drug consumption, and economic costs are enough to negate any need for the program. Drug education is a major part of a well-rounded education, but DARE is not the program to accomplish this goal. The absence of positive effects of the program is enough to justify the absence of a program at all..