Follow-up studies that surveyed high school students or those who graduated showed DARE to be ineffective. Thus the conclusion that the thousands of dollars each community spent on DARE, sending police officers into schools to talk with elementary students, was wasted. Rogues, who is now a prevention specialist, also emphasized the importance of postponing the initial use of illegal drugs. Regardless of how one believes we should deal with our drug problem, few can disagree that prevention is by far the most effective weapon. And just as in our efforts to stop teen pregnancies, we can't give a kid one lesson and expect it to to sink in the first time or to last forever if it does.
Drugs are pleasurable but destructive.
So mending, not ending DARE is a good strategy. Even if we should decide to take a libertarian approach to drug use, we have to continue the message that drugs ruin lives. And that message should be sent early and often.