Just say nonsense.

• Author: Elliott, Jeff
• Position: Nancy Reagan's drug education programs

"I can't get caught in the middle here--I've got my job," the man whispers into the telephone, careful not to be overheard. "But I've seen data that this stuff doesn't make any difference at all." The "stuff' is an educational product sold by this guy's company. Is he peddling video games? Dumbed down textbooks? Nope: a Just Say No anti-drug curriculum taught in schools. Tums out that the effectiveness of the mantra of Nancy Reagan's first ladyship may be about as durable as a caffeine buzz.

In the past 10 years, drug education has become a $2 billion industry, with companies selling expensive teachers' seminars and anti-drug texts to schools across the country. At least $1.25 billion of that comes from federal block grants that schools can use for counseling, social work, and other "anti-drug" activities and paraphernalia--including posters, bumperstickers, t-shirts, and coffee mugs. At least an additional $750 million comes from local and state governments and corporate gifts. Money well spent if it keeps our children from inhaling, right? That's the catch: There's little evidence that these dollars do anything to keep kids from using chugs. It's a new alphabet soup, all acronyms for messages of abstinence: STAR, DARE, ALERT, and dozens more. The nation's schools have bought a bill of goods so large and so ostensibly worthy that it's difficult to acknowledge disappointing results. And the money, now that it' s flowing, is subject to the oldest fact of bureaucratic life: Once a government subsidy starts, it's virtually impossible to shut down.

Since the early eighties, Just Say No courses-classroom sessions, usually about a dozen, held over a few months in sixth, seventh, or eighth grade, sometimes supplemented by community and high school events--have quietly become commonplace. These programs have produced exorbitant claims of success: "More than 25 million kids will be impacted by the highly successful DARE program," reads one glowing press release. "DARE's impact on reducing drug use among young people is well-documented by numerous studies."

Drug bust

That, of course, sounds encouraging; the only problem is that it's not true. Perhaps the best that can be said of the Just Say No ideology is that it makes parents and teachers feel better. A 1988 analysis published in the Journal of Drug Education found that although the sessions probably didn't keep kids away from drugs, they did reassure "parents that the schools are at least trying to control substance abuse among students." Meanwhile, a new University of Michigan study finds that, after years of decline, marijuana, cocaine, and LSD use is actually rising among eighth graders.

Consider Project SMART: Founded in 1981, SMART was one of the earliest Just Say No programs taught in junior high schools. The approach seemed valid: Once a week for 12 weeks, kids would be taught to resist peer pressure, interpret ads for booze or cigarettes, and practice saying no through role playing. To evaluate how well the program worked, the children were tested one and two years later. The first follow-up found children still doing well, at least in resisting cigarettes. But at the end of the second year, almost all...