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US: li;dumn:"lumping DARE A U'und 8tarl 0 111.0 <br />11. /1 Yw.mapmc.oig;drugnn <br />ews/v98.1 H3.allb.ht.ml/all <br />4 f 6 l� <br />ap' `Mena Awareness Pro ect' <br />M" <br />I h <br />_.^:::�:�:':�.;,',https1/a;ww.mapinaoeg/•.;�..,,��::;: s-.�1:?E✓^ <br />US: Column: Dumping DARE A Good Start <br />Newshawk: Jerri Merritt <br />Pubdate: Tues, 8 Dec 1998 <br />Source: Denver Post (CO) <br />Contact: letters@denverpost.com <br />Website: http://www.denverpost.coin/ <br />Copyright: 1998 The Denver Post <br />Columnist: Diane Carman, Denver Post Staff Columnist <br />dcarman@denverpost.com <br />DUMPING DARE A GOOD START <br />Dee. 8 - It's only a baby step, the tiniest movement toward rational public <br />policy. A handful of cities have dared to dump the DARE program. <br />Like most aspects of the war on drugs, DARE has been a colossal waste of <br />money. A study commissioned by the U.S. Justice Department found the <br />program's effectiveness at keeping kids off drugs to be "statistically <br />insignificant." <br />Basically, the war on drugs makes the war on poverty look like a <br />resounding success. And we all know the war on poverty was our <br />domestic Vietnam. <br />Since 1971, the U.S. has spent an estimated $1 trillion on the war on <br />drugs. <br />In that time, illegal drug use has mushroomed and black-market prices <br />have soared. In this country, commerce in illegal drugs is estimated to be <br />a $150 billion -a -year industry. The U.N. estimates illegal drugs. account <br />for 10 percent of the world's trade - all tax-free. <br />While marijuana laws are enforced with enthusiasm in the U.S., the <br />percentage of adolescents using marijuana is twice as high here as in the <br />Netherlands, where the substance is legal. <br />Columbia University, meanwhile, determined that education and <br />treatment of substance abusers is seven times more cost-effective than <br />z <br />