What Is Better When It Comes to Drug Abuse? Drug Prevention (Programs Like DARE) or Drug Treatment (Rehab)?

D.A.R.E. is completely ineffective, a bad joke:

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (Substance-abuse prevention program for elementary and middle school students)

Randomized controlled trials show DARE has no significant impact on participants’ substance use; based on these results, DARE is now testing a revised curriculum.
Description of the intervention: DARE is a highly-structured substance-abuse prevention program taught by uniformed police officers. DARE has developed a program for elementary school students (5th or 6th graders), as well as middle school/junior high school students (7th or 8th graders).
The program is typically provided in 10-20 weekly hour-long sessions, during which the police officers use lectures, class discussion, role plays, and homework assignments to 1) teach students about substance use and its effects; 2) teach students decision-making and peer pressure resistance skills; and 3) boost students’ self-esteem. Prior to teaching, the police officers take an 80-hour training course on teaching techniques, classroom management, and the DARE curriculum.

DARE costs approximately $ 130 per student (2004 dollars) and, as of 2001, was operating in 75% of American school districts.
Based on the negative study findings below, DARE is now piloting a revised curriculum – “Take Charge of Your Life” – which is being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial.*

Study 1
Results 2 years after the program’s completion:

* DARE had no significant impact on students’ use of cigarettes or alcohol, versus the control group. (The study did not assess DARE’s impact on illicit drug use.)

Study 2
Randomized controlled trial of 24 middle or junior-high schools in Minnesota, with 6728 7th and 8th graders. The sample included urban, suburban, and rural schools. Schools were randomly assigned to receive (i) DARE; (ii) DARE Plus (i.e., DARE plus an extensive supplemental program emphasizing parental involvement, extracurricular activities, and neighborhood action teams); or (iii) neither program (the control group).
Results 1.5 – 2 years after program completion:

* DARE had no significant impact on students’ self-reported use of alcohol, tobacco, or illicit drugs, versus the control group.
* DARE Plus did decrease self-reported alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use among boys but not girls, compared to the control group. The study does not indicate the magnitude of the decrease. DARE Plus thus appears to be a promising intervention that would merit evaluation for its longer-term impact.

Other studies
Other randomized controlled trials of DARE, as well as longer-term follow-ups of study 1 (above), have been carried out. However, we do not describe them here because they suffer from very high attrition, which raises questions about the validity of their conclusions. The results of these other studies are consistent with those of study 1 and study 2 above.
http://www.evidencebasedprograms.org/static/interventions/substanceabuse/dare.htm

The Economic Costs of D.A.R.E.

6. Totals: National Estimates of D.A.R.E. costs

Millions of dollars $ 1,040 to $ 1,339 million

7. Estimated economic cost per student each year
$ 175 to $ 270
http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/DAREfinalRP.pdf