GOV, is DARE worth tax money? [FP]

A Forest Park business owner is upset Forest Park canceled its DARE program. So she has started "Hugs Not Drugs". See Forest Park Review (Seth Stern).

Business people like to portray themselves as being more serious about decisions because they have to take into account real world results.

OK. What does the Goverment Accountability Office say about DARE?

In brief, the six long-term evaluations of the DARE elementary school curriculum that we reviewed found no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who received DARE in the fifth or sixth grade (the intervention group) and students who did not (the control group). Three of the evaluations reported that the control groups of students were provided other drug use prevention education. All of the evaluations suggested that DARE had no statistically significant long-term effect on preventing youth illicit drug use. Of the six evaluations we reviewed, five also reported on students� attitudes toward illicit drug use and resistance to peer pressure and found no significant differences between the intervention and control groups over the long term. Two of these evaluations found that the DARE students showed stronger negative attitudes about illicit drug use and improved social skills about illicit drug use about 1 year after receiving the program. These positive effects diminished over time. [Source: Open Minds Industry Resources Library. Open Minds is the research firm that conducted the GAO study.]

If the programs don't work, why should the Village of Forest Park divert resources from other stuff the police department is doing?