I don’t think it’s possible to think that anti-drug advertisements and programs have had no impact on our culture. They have made many people aware of drugs and some facts about them at the very least. They were also incredibly instrumental in polarizing the “war on drugs,” making those against drugs feel superior than those who weren’t, as well as further demonizing drug use amongst minorities, leading to unreasonable jailtimes and disproportionate arrests. Instead of making children educated to make their own decisions on drug use, it spread far and wide, not really informing but intimidating and pushing an agenda. In some cases, this would make children curious about drugs, as they weren’t properly educated about them. Overall, anti-drug advertisements and programs have demonized drugs so much that instead of educating and helping those addicted, we as a society deem it more fit to imprison them for a mental disease that could’ve started due to a lack of education from the same program that made the rest of society think lower of them.

 

        Today, many “defund the police” protests happen, calling for other task forces to be created so that they can de-escalate problems without the use or possibilty of bullets flying. This would’ve been incredibly useful for the DARE program, as it wouldn’t have allowed for the kids to be so intimidated by the police officers, and this task force would’ve acted more like Keepin’ it REAL, informing these children and allowing them to make their own decisions. 

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         Although we can speculate how they would’ve been better, we can all agree that DARE and alike programs further escalated the effects of the war on drugs, and didn’t do what they meant to do successfully.