DRUG CZAR VISITS INDIANAPOLIS

A Drug War At School

Educators Hear About Benefits Of Randomly Testing Students For Substance Abuse

Random drug testing of students is "an enormously powerful
prevention tool" that more communities and school districts should
embrace, the country's drug czar told educators at a regional summit Tuesday.

"The most striking thing I hear in talking to students is that the
kids feel safer," said John Walters, director of the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy.

In addition to helping in the early identification of students with
drug problems, which improves the chances for successful treatment,
he said the threat of testing makes it easier for students to
decline drugs offered by their peers.

"Testing provides a nonarguable reason to say no," said Walters, who
has served as the president's top anti-drug official since 2001.
"The testing is another reason I can say to my friends, when I get
tempted, 'I can't because I could be tested.' "

Walters was in Indianapolis to present the keynote address at the
summit, attended by more than 100 state and local educators.

He said about 1,000 U.S. school districts have random drug testing
policies. About 500 of those programs, including two in Indiana, are
funded with federal grants.

The legality of random tests has been upheld by the Indiana and U.S.
Supreme courts as long as the tests are not punitive.

Walters said the Bush administration has expanded its 2009 funding
request for random student drug testing programs to $12 million, up
from $10.8 million in 2008.

The biggest obstacle to starting drug-testing programs is overcoming
the denial among parents, school officials and students, Walters
said. While student use of illegal drugs has declined by 24 percent
since 2001, Walters said national research shows more than half of
high school students have used an illegal drug.

"We have to find a way to help people face what they don't want to
face," he said.

Walters said research shows that random testing works.

A 2003 survey by Joseph R. McKinney, a professor at Ball State
University and Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis,
determined that "random drug testing policies are effective in
reducing the temptation to use drugs and alcohol."

Brownsburg Schools began drug testing about 10 years ago and
received a three-year, $103,000 federal grant in 2005 to expand its
program. The other Indiana grant recipient was a school district in
Fort Wayne; it received $161,000 in 2005.

Maureen Belch, director of student assistance for the Hendricks
County school corporation, said Brownsburg tests students in Grades
6-12 who are involved in sports or other extracurricular activities,
those who drive to school and students whose parents request that
they be involved in the testing program. About 3,500 students are
eligible for the testing program, she said, and about half of them
are actually tested.

"The number of positives have gone down tremendously since we
started," said Belch, who talked about the Brownsburg program with
those attending the summit.

In the early years of the program, Belch said, about 5 percent to 8
percent of those tested were positive for one of the 10 drugs the
tests can identify -- most often marijuana. Since the testing
program was expanded under the federal grant, she said, the positive
rate has fallen to 1 percent to 2 percent.

"The sense is that this is a big deterrent to student drug abuse," she said.