The PROERD program (Programa Educacional de Resistência às Drogas e à Violência), an adaptation of the widely used DARE program, was implemented and evaluated in Brazil.

The program continued to use police officers as messengers. However, in Brazil this was viewed as a limitation to the effectiveness of the program due to poor relationships between police and young people. Young people lack trust in police officers, and when interviewed, they noted that gangs or organized crime seemed to provide more protection than police.

References:

1. Shamblen, S.R., Courser, M.W., Abadi, M.H., Johnson, K.W., Young, L., Browne, T.J. (2014). An international evaluation of DARE in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Drugs: Education Prevention and Policy, 21(2), pp110-119.

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