Since the 1980s, drug education programs have become commonplace throughout American schools. The most popular of these programs is DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), which is offered in nearly 75 percent of the nation’s school districts. In the DARE program, taught primarily to fifth- and sixth- grade students, a specially trained police officer comes to a classroom once a week for seventeen consecutive weeks. Students are given lessons that include information about the dangers of drug use, role-playing exercises, and group discussions. Variations of the curriculum are taught from kindergarten through high school.

Although DARE is popular, many people question its effectiveness. For example, journalist Jeff Elliott argues that the statistics presented in the lessons are inaccurate. In addition, he contends, the role-playing lessons are not realistic: “When Maggie [a...