Drug testing in schools:

Re: "Schools say yes to drug testing," May 18 news story.

Some schools have started the random drug testing of extra-curricular
students, and other schools are considering following suit. They have
the well-being of their athletes in mind, and concerned parents
believe that such testing will take the burden off their shoulders.
However, they base their eagerness on hunches, anecdotes, "gut
feelings," and perhaps just a sense that "something must be done" to
reduce recreational drug use.

While random testing feels good - that something is being done -
nothing is being done. Once you get away from hunches and anecdotes
and look at the straightforward facts, random drug testing makes no
difference. And if it makes no difference, it makes no sense.

That the federal government supports such nonsense is reason number
(supply your own figure) not to trust their pronouncements about what
to do about the "War On Drugs."

Bertram Rothschild

Aurora