PARENTS, NOT TESTS, HELP STOP DRUG USE

Federally Funded School Screening Of Collier Athletes, Cheerleaders
Already Has Gaps In Effectiveness

Student athletes and cheerleaders in Collier County will be tested
for illicit drug use next year, thanks to $209,662 being funneled
our way by the federal government.

About 3,000 students will be randomly tested for everything from
marijuana to PCP. They are part of a nationwide program that is
costing the taxpayers $8.6 million.

It sounds good, and, frankly it sends a positive message: We don't
want our young people ruining their lives with drugs.

But one must wonder if this isn't a program that offers more glitz
than substance, especially when you consider these cautions:

The urine testing does not detect alcohol and steroids; steroids
being most tempting to athletes and alcohol being the No. 1 drug of
choice for both adults and adolescents. Alcohol is excluded because
the testing program cannot detect it within a reasonable amount of
time and steroid testing is too expensive.

The testing targets those students in the school system who are the
most likely to be involved in wholesome activities that tend to keep
them away from drugs. Athletes and cheerleaders, quite obviously,
can be drug abusers, but the likelihood of them being impaired by
excessive drug use is slight. The rationale for testing them is that
they are school leaders and, hence, should set an example for other
students. Not a convincing argument for excluding the most likely to
need help.

Southwest Florida is seriously lacking in treatment. There is,
generally, a two-month waiting list for outpatient drug treatment
for teens. Our region, because of a lack of political clout in
Tallahassee, is second to last in the state for treatment funding.
If we are going to spend for testing, we need to spend much, much
more for treatment.

There is a danger that parents, looking to the schools for testing
and detection, could abdicate their responsibility for seeing to it
that their children are drug-free.

PARENTS ARE KEY

"One of the big myths is that peer pressure is the No. 1 influence
on kids," said Kevin Lewis, executive director of Southwest Florida
Addiction Services. "The reality is parents are still the No. 1 influence."

The key to drug abuse prevention is early intervention, Lewis said.
"I could get excited about a junior high program," he said.

Lewis wants parents talking with their children early and he wants
them starting with tobacco because tobacco leads to marijuana use,
etc and etc.

"I would rather have the parents and the kids arguing over
cigarettes than amphetamines," he said.

Under the Collier program, student athletes or cheerleaders
producing a positive test result will be referred for treatment.
Punishments will be handed down according to each of the seven
individual schools' codes of conduct.

In Lee County, possession of a controlled substance can result in
expulsion. In lieu of expulsion, school board members can waive that
action and require students to complete a drug-abuse program, after
which they can be subjected to testing monthly. If a positive test
comes back, the expulsion can be reinstated.

The schools try their mightiest, but so much of what they do is too
little, too late.

It is good, in a way, that Collier is seeking to discover drug use
early in a student's experience.

But there seem to be too many remaining concerns to consider the
program a major factor in reducing drug use.

We like Lewis' bottom-line assessment:

"Involved, engaged parents are the No. 1 asset in a person's life."

Come on, mom and dad: Let's stamp out drug use, one home at a time.