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 Simplepowa
In Pursuit of Knowledge
Registered: 03/06/09
Posts: 4,310
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 Why anti-drug campaigns like DARE fail 
#20509313 - 09/02/14 05:38 AM (9 years, 7 months ago) |
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Why anti-drug campaigns like DARE fail
Updated by German Lopez on September 1, 2014, 11:00 a.m. ET @germanrlopez german@vox.com
A teenager with a marijuana joint. PYMCA / Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Plenty of adults remember DARE, the anti-drug education program used by schools since it launched in 1983. These people also probably remember, albeit anecdotally, that DARE failed to substantially reduce drug use among their peers.
DARE's failure is actually very important for US drug policy. As the country moves toward relaxing its drug laws through marijuana legalization and other measures, education and rehabilitation programs will become the focus for public officials who want to prevent drug abuse. Colorado, where marijuana is now legal for personal use and sales for adults 21 and older, recently launched a $2 million campaign that warns teens about becoming a "lab rat" by trying marijuana.
There have been successful anti-drug campaigns in the past, and some of that history provides hints about whether the Colorado campaign will succeed — and whether other programs down the line will succeed as well.
Scaremongering really doesn't work
marijuana jars
Jars of marijuana in a Colorado dispensary. (Seth McConnell / Denver Post via Getty Images)
When it comes to anti-drug campaigns, honesty really might be the best policy. There's a fine line to walk between conveying the risks and exaggerating the dangers of drugs.
Various studies show DARE, for example, failed to significantly reduce drug use among participants. For many participants of DARE, the program's failure likely comes as little surprise. Teens were simply too good at catching and dismissing clear exaggerations about the detrimental health effects of relatively harmless drugs like marijuana, and that helped discredit DARE's overall efforts. (Even after DARE reworked its curriculum in 2001, one of the program's now-deleted "fact sheets" claimed marijuana has no medical value, weakens the immune system, and causes insanity and lung disease — claims that are widely disputed by health experts.)
"Especially with teens, you've got to be credible," says Michael Slater, an anti-drug campaign expert at Ohio State University. "They've got great BS thermometers."
Teens, for example, might know that the high school quarterback is a weekend pot smoker. If they see that his marijuana use doesn't seem to pose an immediate threat to his physical or mental health, they'll immediately grow skeptical of any message that claims marijuana makes people stupid or crazy. "Once kids get a year or two older and find out that's not happening, they tend to belittle any education effort," Slater says.
""Especially with teens, you've got to be credible. They've got great BS thermometers.""
Research shows that some anti-drug messages can even lead to more drug use. A small study from researchers at Ohio University and Pennsylvania State University suggested that anti-drug advertisements may foster curiosity about drug use, although the study couldn't find a clear explanation as to why. Another study published in Human Communication Research found some children are less likely to report anti-drug attitudes after their parents admitted to previous drug use.
Slater says part of the issue with these approaches might be that they "normalize" drug use. By doing that, some anti-drug campaigns inadvertently remove some of the stigma attached to illicit substances.
With marijuana in particular, all these issues require even more consideration. Since the drug is relatively safe, compared to other drugs, and the detrimental effects — if they exist — would take years and perhaps decades to fully develop, it's much harder to stay honest while actively discouraging marijuana use. It's simply much easier to point out the dangers of cocaine or alcohol without exaggeration.
Slater says the better way to discourage drug use, then, is to dispute the idea that drug use makes someone an independent risk-taker. As evidence, he cites previous studies that found campaigns like Be Under Your Own Influence and the Office of National Drug Control Policy's Above the Influence (both of which linked abstaining from drugs to being autonomous) led to a dip in marijuana use.
"Adolescents are about becoming independent, autonomous, and effective people. That's what they want to do," Slater says. "If drug use is perceived as a way to demonstrate independence and autonomy, people discouraging drug use are going to have an uphill battle."
Colorado's campaign tries a balanced approach
Colorado's marijuana campaign, named "Don't Be a Lab Rat," tries to convey pot's potential risks without crossing the line into hyperbole. The campaign suggests that adolescents who try marijuana are essentially offering themselves as "lab rats" to scientists who want to measure the drug's effects on the teen brain. Through this approach, the campaign both tries to push teens away from pot use and acknowledges marijuana might not be so dangerous.
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Robert Pirsig - "When one person suffers from a delusion it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion."
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Brian Cox - "[One] problem with today’s world is that everyone believes they have the right to express their opinion AND have others listen to it. The correct statement of individual rights is that everyone has the right to an opinion, but crucially, that opinion can be roundly ignored and even made fun of, particularly if it is demonstrably nonsense."
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 FreeTheSoul
The wonderer.
Registered: 01/04/14
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Last seen: 2 years, 5 months
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Re: Why anti-drug campaigns like DARE fail [Re: Simplepowa]
#20509327 - 09/02/14 05:51 AM (9 years, 7 months ago) |
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DARE made me want to do drugs. In my mind "wait a piece of paper can make you see shit and laugh hysterically, I call bullshit but I gotta test that shit out for myself." Its like weed people tell you about how awesome it is and alot of people once they hear about the awesomeness want to try it.
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AllGreyThumbs
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Re: Why anti-drug campaigns like DARE fail [Re: FreeTheSoul] 1
#20509380 - 09/02/14 06:36 AM (9 years, 7 months ago) |
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What is the best possible way to influence the way people think and affect their choices in life? Hmmm, should we be heavy handed and use exaggeration, or can we come up with more subtle ways to make sure kids grow up to be who we want them to be? It seems like people are on to the lies, so we must use less obvious methods if we want to control them.
One way or another is imperative that the choices people make are not allowed to destroy our way of life. Kids must be steered toward a lifetime of labor so that they can pay taxes and buy the things commercials tell them to buy. That is the American way. Not freedom to pursue any way of life we choose. No, the American dream is all about hard work and commerce. That is the only valid approach to life.
If people find out that drugs can be more powerful than the rewards of hard work, then how will we keep them working hard to support our way of life? Next thing you know everyone will be sitting around talking about different ways to do things, new and radical approaches to life that could threaten the power of our government and shake the very foundation of our economy. It would be the sixties all over again and we can't allow that.
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I only use drugs medicinally. If I don't my knees hurt from kneeling down.
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Randomtask
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Re: Why anti-drug campaigns like DARE fail [Re: AllGreyThumbs]
#20512742 - 09/03/14 01:46 AM (9 years, 7 months ago) |
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Nothing wrong with hard work. It just depends what you're working hard for.
Case in point, normal and the American public at large are beginning to reap the rewards of countless thousands of individuals hard work over the last what 40 odd years in the struggle against the war on drugs.
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PNW FunGuy
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Re: Why anti-drug campaigns like DARE fail [Re: FreeTheSoul]
#20513262 - 09/03/14 06:48 AM (9 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
FreeTheSoul said:
DARE made me want to do drugs. In my mind "wait a piece of paper can make you see shit and laugh hysterically, I call bullshit but I gotta test that shit out for myself." Its like weed people tell you about how awesome it is and alot of people once they hear about the awesomeness want to try it.
Me too man!!! I'll never forget sitting in my 6th grade classroom in KS going down this list of drugs they handed out that contained summaries of the effects, thinking to myself, "Wow! A lot of these sound like a lot of fun!" 
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"The edge, there is no honest way to explain it, because the only ones who know where it is are the ones who have gone over." Dr. HST, the true king of fun - RIP
  
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DiscoBiscuitsTrip
Registered: 06/05/10
Posts: 1,430
Loc: FL
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Re: Why anti-drug campaigns like DARE fail [Re: PNW FunGuy]
#20513632 - 09/03/14 09:32 AM (9 years, 7 months ago) |
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Right, I feel like if there were no anti-drug things how would kids even know they exist. I know I didn't until somebody told me not to do it, and then the curiosity arises.
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