Drug Abuse Recognition (DAR)

what is DAR?

Drug Abuse Recognition (DAR) is a non-invasive diagnostic process that is highly accurate and precise in determining current and recent past drug use. DAR is sometimes confused with DRE, drug recognition expert program. Although both programs share a certain heritage and technical argot, there are significant differences.

DAR is a 7-step deductive protocol that is not reliant on bodily fluids in order to reach a certain result. DAR screens for ALL drugs of abuse and screens them into the following categories: stimulants, hallucinogens, opiates, marijuana, alcohol, depressants, inhalants and PCP/Ketamine. DAR has been taught to over 50,000 public safety personnel in the Midwest and Western United States.

DAR students include police, probation, fire, EMS and hospital emergency room personnel. A special derivative of DAR is being taught by Premier to government (parole, probation and drug treatment) clients in a format called "DARS." This special community corrections program of DAR is designed to enhance drug-screening capabilities and empower relapse prevention while all the while reducing user's overall urinalysis operating costs.

how was DAR developed?

DAR was developed in California by the Glendale Police Dept. in 1989. DAR was funded by a traffic safety grant of the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS). The development team was comprised of several DRE instructors, physicians, criminalists and pharmacists. DAR came about because of perceived limitations with DRE and its application as the primary “expert” method for diagnosing and evaluating the drunk and drugged driver.

Being DRE’s, the development team knew that DRE training was very long and required students and their organizations to commit to hundreds of hours of class/clinical work. Many DRE students dropped out of the process because of its length and slow pace. Further, the DRE’s believed that the DRE process was too long, too involved for much of the drug screening and evaluation that was needed on the streets.

The team believed that good public safety policy required that ALL public safety officers have a baseline of drunk/drugged driver training and be capable of making simple, yet accurate assessments of the type of drug and amount of drug being used. It was believed that DAR trained officers would act as a feeder system to the DRE’s for complex and high profile cases that would need special criminal justice handling. Going forward, many DAR supporters took to calling DAR, “DRE Lite.”

DAR utilizes several of the diagnostic steps found in DRE. Building on recent advances in the medical understanding of drug pharmacology, DAR emphasized certain physiological measurements as having more meaning and relevance than others. The DAR test was designed to be completed in less than half of the time of a DRE exam yet yield a diagnostic result that rivaled DRE. The DAR program, a 24 hour training course began instruction in California in 1990 and it soon became the law enforcement standard for DUI enforcement training. Many of the current certified DAR instructors are DRE’s. Many of these personnel acknowledge that they use the shorter, more user-friendly DAR process for most of their field evaluations.

16-hour program

DARS offered by Premier is a 16-hour program. This version of DAR is intended to be used as a pre-screening system for urine and saliva based drug-testing systems. In some applications, DARS is utilized as a “stand alone” drug test. DARS tests are mixed with programmed urinalysis tests so that probationers and parolees are never sure which type of drug use diagnostics will be used in their screening. DARS reduces the costs of urine and saliva based systems. DARS is immune to adulteration. DARS can also detect ALL drugs of abuse, not just those targeted in traditional urinalysis and saliva panels.

DAR doesn’t require gender-matched screeners, nor does it require electricity or calibrations. The DAR “baseline” technique is used by criminal justice personnel to establish a “clean” profile of an offender so that future DAR findings can be looked at for variances from what is considered to be a clean and sober set of DAR metrics. DAR trained personnel are given access to a 24-hour hotline that’s staffed by doctors and DRE’s. A “train the trainer” DARS course is provided to large government clients so that they can create their own DAR teaching cadre and perpetuate the program.

The standard DAR program requires 24 hours of classroom instruction. The DARS version is 16 hours long and includes two hours of drug pharmacology, 2 hours of the DARS 7-step Diagnostic Process and 1-hour discussions about each of the drug classifications that can be screened for with the 7-step process. All students take a final written exam. Without a passing grade, students are not given DAR certifications.

8-hour dars rapid eye technique

DARS Rapid Eye is a 5-step process that is designed as a high-speed technique for use in a wide array of tactical situations. Although Rapid Eye is less precise as Standard DAR, it is accurate in determining whether or not a person is currently using or abusing a drug, narcotic or alcohol. Rapid Eye is taught in a 1-day course. Students receive a Rapid Eye certification that entitles them to all the support program benefits of DAR.