Episode 45: “Puff or Pass”: The Iconic, Ironic D.A.R.E. Shirt

Drugs and Stuff: A Podcast from the Drug Policy Alliance

In this episode of “Puff or Pass”, our series on the portrayal of drugs and drug users in popular culture, DPA’s former digital communications interns Dilara Balkan and Marisa Hetzler take us on a journey through fashion, irony, and drug (mis)education with an exploration of the D.A.R.E. shirt. How did the infamous D.A.R.E. program transition from failed Copaganda “drug education” to a counterculture sartorial statement? Listen to find out -- and learn why D.A.R.E.’s abstinence-based approach to drug education was so unsuccessful, what alternatives exist, and where you can get yourself some D.A.R.E. merch to pull off the 90s alt-aesthetic you’ve always wanted.

To learn more about DPA’s harm-reduction based drug education curriculum Safety First, visit drugpolicy.org/safetyfirst.

Special thanks to our intern Jake Samieske for his help on this episode.