SCHOOL SHOULD DELAY DRUG TESTS

From Bruce L. Plopper, Conway:

In addition to questions about the legality of Conway Public School's new
drug-testing policy, Conway parents should know about the lack of published
research concerning drug testing's effects and also about the damage that a
drug-testing threat may cause to students.

First, I cannot find any documented evidence that drug testing actually
decreases substance abuse among students in grades 7 through 12. Before we
subject our children to this extreme experiment, such evidence should be
established.

Second, several reputable sources say drug testing may have unintended,
negative consequences. One suggests the threat of drug testing might drive
students away from extracurricular activities (populated by students least
likely to abuse drugs) and toward a new group of friends whose recreation
includes substance abuse. Another says it may be counterproductive to
exclude youth who fail drug tests from participation in after school
activities, since leaving them unsupervised during the critical after
school hours may increase their likelihood of drug involvement.

A third says that additional negative outcomes of a drug-testing policy
include 1) students switching to more exotic drugs they believe are less
likely to be detected by simple drug tests, 2) increased mistrust and
suspicion between students and school staff, 3) emotional harm to students
with "false positives," and 4) risk to the school district of protracted
legal action due to false positives.

While I applaud all those who have worked so hard to develop an anti- drug
policy for our school system, I believe the Conway Board of Education
should suspend its current policy immediately, take time to re-evaluate it,
and wait for the U. S. Supreme Court to decide if it is legal.