FEDS - LABS NOT REQUIRED FOR SCHOOL DRUG TESTS

Nurses Have Done Job At A Lower Cost

The White House is sending a message tomorrow to the state board of
education: Don't force school districts to use costly state-licensed
labs to conduct random drug tests on students, a requirement school
officials fear will kill school programs.

Bertha Madras, deputy drug czar in the federal government's war
against drugs, plans to speak at a hearing in Trenton tomorrow on
proposed new rules that would require state-licensed clinical labs to
collect and test urine samples for a variety of recreational drugs.

Madras, a Harvard professor on leave to work for the U.S. Department
of Education in drug prevention, said she plans to point out to the
New Jersey school board that procedures schools now use work fine.
Most districts use school nurses to conduct the tests at a cost of $10
to $12 each.

"We've had no complaints from any schools involved in this process,"
she said. "We have a system that has proven to be effective and
accurate and acceptable to over 500 school systems (nationwide) that
do the test."

Districts have reacted to the proposed rules with alarm. Most use
school nurses to screen urine or swab saliva for the presence of drugs
and alcohol. If the screening indicates a positive result, the sample
is sent to a lab for further analysis, which can cost anywhere from
$35 to $60 for the lab test.

Some 20 districts in New Jersey are using random testing as a drug
prevention tool, and many more are considering it for the coming year.
Madras said about half a dozen in New Jersey receive federal grants to
help pay for their programs.

State officials, who are establishing parameters for the growing
school drug-testing programs, said the rules are intended to ensure
reliability in the tests. The rules do not affect the steroid-testing
program administered by the New Jersey Inter-Scholastic Athletic
Association.

Under the proposal, which is scheduled for adoption in October,
districts that test students would have the option of transporting
them to a state lab to be tested, contracting with a lab to send a
representative to a school or obtaining a state license to conduct the
tests.

The state Department of Education doesn't know how much the new rule
will add to the cost of drug testing programs, but in a statement on
the economic impact of the regulation acknowledged it "will create
additional costs to district boards of education that opt to perform
random testing of alcohol or other drug use for students."

The requirement for lab tests comes from the state Department of
Health, which insists on the use of a state-licensed lab because the
tests are being used to determine if a student has a drug problem and
needs to be referred for treatment.

Susan Martz, director of DOE's Office of Program Support Services,
said while schools are required to maintain programs on alcohol,
tobacco and drug use prevention, intervention and treatment, a
voluntary random drug testing program is just one of many strategies
they can use.

In Pequannock, the high school tests students involved in sports,
extra-curricular activities and who park in the school lot, while the
middle school asks parents to voluntarily sign up to have their
children tested. The district gets a federal grant and follows federal
guidelines in administering its program.

Middle school Principal William Trusheim is worried about the impact
on the drug testing program, in part because the state guidelines say
drug testing should be limited to high school students.. He believes
random drug testing is an important deterrent and said his school has
never turned up a positive test.

"I certainly want to make sure we have due diligence whether it's
sample collection or any part of it," Trusheim said, who added an
emergency medical technician collects the samples. "But I'm also
concerned the requirements on the schools be reasonable."

Hillsborough is one of several districts considering random drug
tests. Interim Superintendent Lisa Antunis said the district won't
move forward until it determines what impact the new regulations will
have.

"We'll put it on hold until we get an answer," she
said.

David Evans, executive director of the Drug-Free Schools Coalition, an
advocacy and resource group for school districts, plans to be at the
hearing tomorrow as well.

He said the state should not be requiring such strict tests for
schools. Even employers who drug-test aren't required to use
state-licensed labs, he said. Neither does the Department of
Corrections, which requires drug tests of parolees.

"We're talking about kids," Evans said. "These programs have
demonstrated they clearly reduce drug use. The purpose of this law is
to save lives and if you decrease the drug testing program, young
people are going to die."