DARE educates students not only on the negative aspects of drug use but also on the positive life skills needed to resist drugs. The use of uniformed police officers as classroom instructors is a key feature of the program. This evaluation of the Illinois DARE Program involved students in sixth-grade classes from three elementary schools in a downstate school district. A total of 200 students completed the pretest questionnaire during regular classes before participating in the DARE Program. The posttest questionnaire was administered at the same schools at the end of the semester. A total of 190 students completed the posttest survey. The questionnaire consisted of 167 questions that addressed demographic information, an estimation of how many students in the school used drugs, an indication of the number of friends and adults students knew who used drugs, the number of times students had been offered drugs, and how many times in the last year the respondents had used drugs or committed specified delinquent acts; students were also asked to identify the amount of peer pressure they had received to use drugs. Preliminary findings show that DARE has achieved a short- term reduction in alcohol and other drug use, cigarette smoking, and delinquent acts. Attitudes toward police officers and the DARE Program were positive; students reported an increase in knowledge about drugs and in their ability to resist drug use. 3 tables and 15 references