Why D.A.R.E. for Presentations

Why D.A.R.E. is Set Apart from Other Prevention Curricula

Most Comprehensive Prevention Education ProgramD.A.R.E. education programs are the most comprehensive drug prevention curricula in the world taught in thousands of schools throughout America’s 50 states and its territories, as well as in many other countries reaching more than 1.5 million students annually.

Comprehensive K-12 Curricula – D.A.R.E.’s curricula are science and evidence-based and developmentally age-specific with distinct, multi-week core curricula for elementary, middle, and high school students.  For a list of numerous articles and studies on the effectiveness of D.A.R.E., visit https://dare.org/resource-guides-2/.

Free K-12 Opioid & Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Curricula – D.A.R.E.’s enhancement lessons include the only FREE K-12 Opioid & OTC/Rx abuse prevention package of lessons available.

Curricula Created by Experts – D.A.R.E. benefits from experts in various fields through four longstanding advisory boards:  Scientific Advisory Board, Education Advisory Board, Law Enforcement Advisory Board, and Youth Advocacy Board.

Highly Trained Officers Deliver the Curricula – D.A.R.E. officers must complete a rigorous, 80-hour training course conducted by mentors with years of classroom experience, as well as university-level educators.  All officers are taught to deliver the curricula exactly as they are written seeking the goal of 100% fidelity of delivery.

D.A.R.E. Education Program Endorsements & Support

Surgeon General Report – The Surgeon General’s 2016 landmark report entitled, Facing Addiction in America:  The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health, states that the keepin’ it REAL curriculum is among a number of programs that builds social, emotional, cognitive, and substance refusal skills and that provides children accurate information on rates and amounts of peer substance use.

The President’s 2017 Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis – This Presidential Commission report states, “When evidence-based programs are selected for specific populations and implemented with fidelity, they can be effective.”  The Commission’s report identifies keepin’ it REAL as one such program.

California Healthy Kids Resource Center – The California Healthy Kids Resource Center, a division of the California Departments of Health and Education, lists keepin’ it REAL as “research validated”…its equivalent of an evidence-based  ranking.

United Nations – D.A.R.E. is the only international drug prevention curricula to hold consultative status with the Committee on Non-Government Organizations of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Scientific American – In its September 10, 2014 issue, Scientific American published an article entitled, The New D.A.R.E. Program – this one works.  The article notes that Richard Clayton, Ph.D., a retired prevention researcher formerly of the University of Kentucky, who was also once an outspoken critic of D.A.R.E., has since joined D.A.R.E.’s board of directors and chairs its Scientific Advisory Committee.

Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly – In August 2017, Alcoholism & Drug Abuse Weekly published a comprehensive article which states, “Randomized controlled trials of the new curriculum, called keepin’ it REAL, have shown that in 14 months, drug use was reduced in students who received the D.A.R.E. curriculum compared to peers who didn’t.”

Michele Leonhart
Chair, D.A.R.E. America Board of Directors
Former Administrator, DEA
Francisco X. Pegueros
President & CEO
D.A.R.E. America

Copyright © 2022 D.A.R.E. America. All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2022 D.A.R.E. America.
All Rights Reserved.