DRUG TESTS FOR STUDENTS OUT OF LINE

Whether your son plays on his high school's football or chess teams,
or your daughter is the school's premier debater or basketball star,
they could be required to submit to a random drug test if they want
to participate. The kid who just shows up for class every day,
though, will never have to worry about being singled out, maybe even
if there's reason to suspect he or she is using drugs.

That's the bottom line of a movement that is gaining acceptance and
being adopted in an increasing number of school districts in many
states. In Colorado, random drug testing for students participating
in extracurricular activities is policy in three districts and under
serious consideration in at least a dozen more.

The program is being promoted by President Bush's Office of National
Drug Control Policy, and the idea has been received favorably by many
educators. Some parents, who feel something must be done about drug
use in schools, support it, too - even though detecting drug use by
randomly testing students is like firing into the forest and hoping a
deer walks into the shot.

To us, the flaws in random student drug testing are obvious, and
outweigh the justifications advanced by all who advocate it.

President Bush, in his February 2007 National Drug Control Strategy,
and Dr. Bertha Madras, the White House's representative at the recent
"Random Student Drug Testing Summit" held in Pagosa Springs, both
make the case that random testing is the strongest deterrent to drug
use in schools. Never mind that no persuasive research supports their
view.

Focusing on students who participate in extracurricular activities,
as all of the random testing programs do, contradicts the widely held
belief that participation in after-school activities keeps kids busy
and out of trouble. Whether you're talking about competitive
athletics, band, choir, cheerleading or clubs ranging from Future
Farmers to speech, aren't these the endeavors that develop
self-discipline, responsibility, pride, self-confidence and other
important character traits?

What evidence is there that these young go-getters indulge in higher
rates of drug use than their presumably more idle, less motivated
colleagues? None that we could locate. But if that's the case, why
single them out? Any suggestion that the entire student population be
tested would of course provoke far more resistance, and deservedly
so. Better to dispense altogether with the dubious idea of testing.