A VALUABLE TEST FOR STUDENTS

Marquette Catholic High School in Alton began testing all of its
students for drugs at the start of the school year, but you might not
have even heard about it if we hadn't mentioned it in an article the other day.

A few years ago, such a policy would have prompted the kind of heated
debates that we heard during the Mascoutah hugging flap. But today,
people generally consider drug testing a routine matter. It's a
requirement of employment at many businesses. And school is our
children's version of a job.

It makes you wonder why more schools don't do it. Not just private
schools, but public schools.

If we're serious about fighting the war against drugs to protect our
children, this would be an effective weapon. Students thinking about
experimenting with drugs or feeling pressure from their peers to do
so might decide against it for fear of being caught. Students who do
use drugs might be detected and get the help they need.

Schools probably could redirect money they already spend on student
health and safety programs to drug testing.

But besides Marquette, Collinsville is the only other metro-east high
school we're aware of that does drug testing, and that's just for athletes.

Arguably, athletes are at high risk. The lure of college scholarships
and professional contracts has pushed many kids into using steroids
and performance-enhancing drugs. Schools need to be proactive in
detecting and stopping that.

But if your child was using drugs, wouldn't you want someone to tell
you, regardless of whether he was on the football team?

If it's in the public interest to test one group of students for
drugs, it makes sense to test them all.