FARRAH MAFFAI The Drug Abuse Identification Kit, also called the drug board or drug box, shows a variety of legal and illegal drugs and paraphernalia and also explains the effects of their abuse. Youngsters often say the box is what they remember most about Dare.

Since it began in Los Angeles in 1983, millions of children have been through the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program.

Run as a partnership between police departments and school districts, the program is by far the largest and best funded societal effort to make children aware of the perils of drug abuse, both legal and illegal.

Over the last 15 years thousands of New Jersey residents have gone through the DARE program. It is offered in most of the school districts in Greater Media Newspapers’ coverage area in Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties.

While people in some quarters have criticized the DARE program as being ineffectual in its stated goal of reducing drug abuse, it has been found to provide some desirable benefits unrelated to drug use.

Interviews with a half dozen Central Jersey residents between the ages of 14 and 23 seem to bear that out.

Because of the sensitive nature of the topic and because some of the interview subjects are under 18, their names will not be used.

The oldest people interviewed were not surprisingly the least able to recall many specifics of the program. Still, all did consider DARE to have a positive effect on their behavior regarding drug use. The primary message recalled by the older interview subjects was typical of one young man, who said, "Primarily I remember it as being that ‘drugs are bad,’ although I don’t think that message was reinforced much."

The recollection about reinforcement is consistent with one of the complaints to surface about the program in recent years. Both studies and other people interviewed for this article support that contention. Even fairly recent graduates of the program said it gave them the tools to make informed decisions about drug use without delivering an explicit and consistent message not to use drugs.

The youngest people interviewed consistently recalled the most vivid (and beneficial) experience with the DARE program as being the drug board or box that contained a variety of legal and illegal drugs and for which an explanation was given about the effects of their abuse.

"It really let you know how horrible some of the things that can happen are," said one of those interviewed.

One younger graduate of the program said he found the role-playing aspect of DARE worthwhile, saying, "I think when (an offer of illicit drugs) does come up, people have an idea of what to do," as a result of having participated in the role-playing exercise.

Of those who recalled a part of the DARE program they felt was least worthwhile, most said the program’s graduation ceremony, which can include a skit about what the youngsters are supposed to have learned, was not particularly beneficial.

One person said the program’s mascot (a cartoon lion) did nothing to enforce an anti-drug use message.

While the message of not abusing drugs may not have come through clearly, several of the subjects said the experience of talking to a police officer in a classroom setting was a positive one.

"I still see the officer that I had the DARE program with," one person said. "She checks up on me all the time."

Research indicates that students who participate in DARE do have a better attitude regarding the police.

While all of those interviewed indicated the DARE program affected the way they viewed drugs, some acknowledged that they drank alcohol before turning 21 or that they had taken an illegal drug. Two of the people interviewed said they are cigarette smokers.