DARE to Hope?

Good news out of Florida:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- The popularity of the DARE anti-drug program for schools extends to the Florida governor's mansion, but that hasn't stopped some officials from recommending that it be removed from the state's budget.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement suggested the annual appropriation of $376,362 be eliminated after Gov. Charlie Crist and legislative leaders asked agencies to propose cuts in their budgets to offset declining state tax revenues.

FDLE officials say they want to drop their role of training local Drug Abuse Resistance Education officers not just to save money, but because national studies show it is ineffective.

Wait. What's that? Its "ineffective"? Since when do we start using empirical evidence for evaluating drug policy expenditures?

Snarky comments aside; this is becoming what you could call a trend with D.A.R.E. Let's hope it continues. Previous D.A.R.E blogging here.