• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

FHE Health | Inpatient Rehab & Mental Health Facility in Florida Homepage

Drug, Alcohol and Mental Health Treatment

ContactCareers

Call for Immediate Help (833) 596-3502

MENUMENU
  • About
        • About FHE Rehab
          • About FHE Health
          • Our Staff
          • Locations We Serve
          • Testimonials
        • Our Campus
          • Gallery
          • Our Videos
          • The Health and Wellness Center at FHE Health
        • Our Locations
          • Alcohol Rehab
          • Detox Center
          • Drug Rehab
          • Mental Health Center
          • Outpatient Rehab
        • Careers at FHE Health
          • Employment Opportunities
        • Our Expertise
          • Accreditations
          • Educational Opportunities
          • Community Impact Award
          • First Responder Families Podcast
          • First Responder Paws
          • Education Scholarship
  • Addiction
        • Treatment Programs
          • Treatment Program Overview
          • Alcohol Addiction
          • Drug Addiction Treatment
          • Behavioral Addiction
        • Levels of Care
          • Continuum of Care
          • Addiction Detox
          • Inpatient Addiction Treatment
          • Outpatient Addiction Treatment
        • What We Treat
          • Alcoholism
          • Amphetamines
          • Benzodiazepines
          • Cocaine
          • Heroin
          • Opioids
          • Sedative
  • Mental Health
        • Mental Health Rehab
          • Mental Health Rehab
          • Onsite Psychiatric Care
          • Dual Diagnosis
        • Levels of Care
          • Residential Mental Health Care
          • Outpatient Mental Health Care
        • What We Treat
          • ADD & ADHD
          • Anxiety Disorders
          • Bipolar Disorder
          • Depression
          • Eating Disorders
          • Personality Disorders
          • PTSD
          • Schizophrenia
          • Substance Use Disorder
          • Trauma
  • Programs
        • FHE Programs
          • Specialty Program Overview
          • Restore (Mental Health)
          • Empower! (Women's Program)
          • Shatterproof FHE Health(First Responders)
          • Compass Program
        • Support Programs
          • Alumni
          • Family Support
        • Therapies
          • Acupuncture
          • Breathwork Therapy
          • CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)
          • DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy)
          • EMDR Therapy
          • Expressive Arts Therapy
          • Individual Therapy
          • Group Therapy
          • Gambling Therapy
          • Massage
        • Medical Care
          • Medical Integration
          • Ketamine Infusion
          • IV Vitamin
          • Fitness & Nutrition
          • Medication-Assisted Treatment
          • Medication Management
        • NeuroRehab Services
          • Neuro Rehabilitation
          • Neurofeedback Training
          • Neurostimulation Therapy
          • EEG Brain Mapping
          • Insomnia Treatment for PTSD
  • Resources
        • FHE Guides
          • Understanding Drug Abuse
          • Signs of Addiction
          • The Disease of Addiction
          • Confronting Addiction
          • Staging an Intervention
          • Rehab Success Rate – Does It Really Work?
          • Withdrawal Timelines
          • Life After Rehab
          • LGBTQ+ Community Resources
          • Veteran Resources
          • FHE Podcasts
          • Remote Resources Toolkit
        • Learning Center
          • Help for You
          • Help For Loved Ones
          • Help For Alcoholism
          • Help With Substance Abuse
          • Behavioral & Mental Health
          • Life in Recovery
          • Rehab Explained
          • Addiction Statistics
          • Our Research Articles
          • View All Articles
        • The Experience Blog
          • Addiction News
          • Alumni
          • Community Events
          • Expert Opinions
          • FHE Commentary
          • FHE News
          • Treatment Legislation
          • View All Articles
  • Admissions
        • Insurance
          • Blue Cross Insurance
          • Beacon Health / Value Options Insurance
          • Cigna Insurance
          • Humana Insurance
          • TRICARE Insurance
        • Admissions
          • Steps to Addiction Help
          • Will Insurance Cover Behavioral Treatment?
          • Self-Pay Rehab
        • FAQ
          • Keeping Your Job in Rehab
          • Example Day in Rehab
        • Contact Admissions
          • Contact Us
          • Secure Payment Form
  • Contact
  •  
Home > Experience Blog > Addiction News > “Just Say No” and the D.A.R.E Program

April 8, 2024 By Meghan

“Just Say No” and the D.A.R.E Program

Just SAy No - About the DARE campaign

In 1982, First Lady Nancy Reagan uttered the three words “Just say no” to a schoolgirl who had asked what she should say if someone offered her drugs. As we all know, the First Lady’s suggestion became the unified call for the adolescent drug prevention movement we have all come to know and may have experienced. Since that movement, schools around the country have instituted programs that are designed to discourage alcohol and drug use among children and teens—most of them targeting older elementary school-aged kids and some adolescents.

And it is all for good reason. US surveys show that 10.2% of 12th graders had engaged in binge drinking in the past two weeks, and 30% had consumed at least some alcohol in the past month. 2.0% of eighth graders and 5.4% of sophomores had tried alcohol as well. In addition, 2.1% of 12th graders had tried meth, and about 1.6% had used cocaine at least once.

In an attempt to reduce these numbers, prevention programs will often let young kids know the perils and dangers of drug use, they will teach students social skills to resist pressure to experiment, and they will help young people feel that saying no is socially acceptable. All the approaches seem to make total sense, and teachers, parents, and policymakers believe they work. Yet, as it turns out, approaches that involve MORE social interaction work better than any kind of education. And that may be why one of the most popular prevention programs, which you may have experienced yourself, is such a failure—and may even heighten the use of some drugs among teens.

Just Say No Drug Program

Proof That D.A.R.E.’s “Just Say No” to Drugs Doesn’t Work

The most widely publicized teen substance abuse prevention program is Drug Abuse Resistance Education, better known as D.A.R.E. Created in 1983 by the LA Police Department, the D.A.R.E. program asks uniformed police officers to go into schools to warn students about the dangers of drug use and underscore the highlights of living a drug-free way of life.

In most cases, the officers do so once a week for several months, for about 45 to 60 minutes. D.A.R.E. is hugely popular and is in place in 75% of US school districts and 43 countries. There are D.A.R.E. bumper stickers, t-shirts, and police cars emblazoned with the word D.A.R.E.

Despite all of this “fanfare,” data indicates that the program does nothing to help with substance abuse among teens. A mathematical review in 2009 of 20 controlled studies by statisticians Wei Pan, then at the University of Cincinnati, and Haiyan Bai of the University of Central Florida revealed that teens enrolled in the program were just as likely to use drugs as those who didn’t have D.A.R.E.

D.A.R.E. May Have Backfired and Caused Substance Abuse

'Just Say No' may have backfiredEven worse, D.A.R.E. programs might occasionally backfire when it comes to the use of drugs such as alcohol and cigarettes. For some drugs, the chances of use are increased for girls.

In a 2002 review, psychologist and now president of PreventionPLUSWellness in Jacksonville, FL, and Deborah Owen of the University of North Florida reported that those who went through D.A.R.E. were more likely to drink and smoke compared to those who were not exposed to the program. Small negative effects of the D.A.R.E. program, like drinking and smoking, were also reported in a 2009 study by Public health professor Zili Sloboda of the University of Akron and her colleagues. The reasons for this are still unclear. Yet by emphasizing drug abuse as being bad, they may unknowingly make cigarette smoking and alcohol drinking look better or less dangerous.

Surprising Results From A Program With Good Intent

These results are a slap in the face of teachers’ and parents’ long-held belief that D.A.R.E. works. One reason for this is that teachers and parents may overestimate the prevalence of substance abuse among children. As a consequence, they assume a decline in use when students of D.A.R.E. abstain from drugs, while those children who did not participate in the program have just as low rates of use, if not lower.

The good news is that D.A.R.E. is now recognizing the negative results and incorporating more potentially effective elements such as role-playing and intervention. Research on the revised programs in D.A.R.E. should tell whether they will reduce substance abuse.

Filed Under: Addiction News

More Questions about Treatment?

More Questions about Treatment?

We offer 100% confidential and individualized treatment

Contact Us

About Meghan

Meghan Blackford is a Social Media Consultant with over ten years of advertising and digital marketing experience, who helps curate... read more

Primary Sidebar

The Experience Blog

  • Addiction News
  • Alumni
  • Community Events
  • Expert Columns
  • FHE Commentary
  • FHE News
  • Treatment Legislation
  • All Articles

Sign up for the Blog

Our Facilities

Take a look at our state of the art treatment center.

View Our Gallery

Learning Center

  • Help for You
  • Help For Loved Ones
  • Help For Alcoholism
  • Help With Substance Abuse
  • Behavioral & Mental Health
  • Life in Recovery
  • Rehab Explained
  • All Articles
Contact Us
  • Call Now:
  • Best Time to Call:

Footer

FHE Health

© 2025 FHE Health

505 S Federal Hwy #2,
Deerfield Beach, Florida 33441
1-833-596-3502
youtube facebook instagram linkedin twitter
  • Contact
  • Careers
  • AI Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
A+ BBB and Top Places to Work - Sun Sentinel

Copyright © 2025 · FHE Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}

The FHE Health team is committed to providing accurate information that adheres to the highest standards of writing. If one of our articles is marked with a ‘reviewed for accuracy and expertise’ badge, it indicates that one or more members of our team of doctors and clinicians have reviewed the article further to ensure accuracy. This is part of our ongoing commitment to ensure FHE Health is trusted as a leader in mental health and addiction care.

If there are any concerns about content we have published, please reach out to us at marketing@fhehealth.com.

833-596-3502

Text/Call Me