A Summary and Synthesis of Contemporary Empirical Evidence Regarding the Effects of the Drug Abuse Resistance Education Program (D.A.R.E.)

Abstract

The prevention of drug abuse is an especially salient topic for school psychologists and other educational professionals. Schools are the primary setting for providing education and information aimed at the prevention of drug abuse. Previous meta-analyses (Ennett, et al., 1994; West & O’Neal, 2004) indicate that one of the nation’s most popular drug prevention programs, the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program (D.A.R.E.), was not effective in reducing illicit drug use among youths. In 2003, D.A.R.E. was modified in an attempt to make it more effective. The purpose of this review is to summarize and synthesize the contemporary empirical evidence, which includes six studies focusing on the old D.A.R.E. and one study focusing on the new D.A.R.E., regarding outcomes associated with the modified D.A.R.E. program. Recent studies offer mixed evidence regarding the effectiveness of the new D.A.R.E curriculum, thus, further systematic investigation is warranted to better understand student outcomes associated with the new D.A.R.E curriculum. This information is particularly valuable for school psychologists, administrators, and other education professionals responsible for identifying empirically supported programs for use in schools.