FACING THE BIG TEST

Arielle James doesn't take drugs. Not now, not ever, she says.

The E.E. Smith High School freshman isn't going to start getting
stoned, either. And if she ever even thought about it, "You can bet my
mom would have something to say about it."

Bright and articulate, with shy eyes and a winning smile, the
14-year-old is literally one of the last people in her school you'd
expect to be taking a test for illegal drugs.

But this fall, Arielle and more than 13,000 other Cumberland County
teens will find themselves facing an empty cup and a decision: are
extracurricular activities worth getting tested for drugs?

Beginning in the 2007-2008 school year, the Cumberland County public
school system will require any student who wishes to take part in any
athletic team or competitive extracurricular activity, such as
marching bands or debate teams, to participate in random drug testing.

"I was surprised to hear that they had decided to set that up," says
Pine Forest High junior Fabian Elliott. "My first question was, 'Where
are they getting the money for this?'"

Funding will come from a $1.2 million grant by the United States
Department of Education, meaning it won't cost the schools anything.
In the first year as many as 50 percent of students in these
activities will be tested, with those registering positive facing
increasingly stringent penalties.

Members of the Cumberland County School Board, which unanimously
passed the policy last week, saw it as a way for teens to sidestep
peer pressure to use drugs. It would also help parents and teens come
to grips with any drug use before it became serious, ruining more than
a part in the school play or a solo at band competition.

They also note that there are similar programs across the country.
Some test only athletes, some test all students who have on-campus
parking permits, but all work under the same assumption: The fear of
getting caught will keep teens away from drugs.

"If a student wants to remain active in an activity, it may make them
think twice before using an illegal substance," says associate
superintendent Kathy Dickson.

Officials hope four years of testing will result in declining numbers
of positive tests. This, they say, will prove that random testing acts
at least partially as a deterrent to drug use.

Teens in Cumberland County seem split on the tests -- not on their
use, but their effectiveness. Surprisingly few considered the tests an
invasion of privacy, but several questioned whether they would
actually reduce drug use in schools.

For one thing, notes Gray's Creek senior tennis player Maggie
Gallagher, the test seems to focus on students who are less likely to
be using drugs. Members of a school's Brain Game team are less likely
to smoke marijuana than, say, the group that hides in the woods behind
school and lights up during study hall.

"Really, we aren't the ones using drugs," she says. "Athletes who are
serious are taking care of their bodies. Students who are succeeding
aren't going to be the biggest risk where drugs are concerned."

Classmate Kathleen McHugh agreed: "I really don't know what the point
of testing these groups is about."

The reason, as the board of education noted when passing the policy is
they might want to test every student, but as of yet they can't. The
United States Supreme Court has ruled that random testing of an entire
student body is not allowed under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment
barring unreasonable search.

Beginning about a decade ago, schools stepped around that ruling. They
began making drug testing part of the agreement a student makes to
participate in activities.

Originally the programs primarily focused on athletes, searching for
performance-enhancing drugs. In the past five years, programs have
cast a wider net.

To survive court challenges, the tests must be truly random. In the
case of Cumberland County's policy, the ID number of every student
taking part in an extracurricular event is fed into a computer. At
given times the computer will select a school at random, then the
numbers of students from that school who will have to provide a urine
sample without previous warning.

Students who test positive will be unable to participate in their
event for five days, and be barred from the next two activities.

In the case of sports, such as basketball, that means a week of the
season. For teens in band, the two-event rule could effectively end
their year.

"Man, that would be tough," says Will Smith. A junior, he's the
first-chair trumpet at E.E. Smith. "That's most of the year in band."

"If you took somebody out of band for that long, it would really be
discouraging to them," adds Gray's Creek flutist Alyssa Starnes.

Which, some teens say, raises another question: If a drug test keeps
students from extracurricular events, does it remove what might be a
positive goal in their lives?

"It can be a good influence," says Arielle, showing her skill as a
debater. "If they can't do whatever it is, will they just fall into
doing drugs?"

Other teens see it as forcing classmates to make a
decision.

"Ultimately, it's a personal decision," says Gray's Creek junior
Cheryl Krupa. "If they want to take drugs more than they want to be a
part, then it's their decision. But at some point people learn
decisions have consequences."

"Some people will take drugs instead, and some will think they won't
get caught," added Pine Forest junior Curtis Turner. "To succeed in
sports, or anything, you've got to take it to a higher level. That
means making that decision."

And, school officials note, a positive outcome from any positive drug
tests might be helping a student get away from drugs.

"It might scare kids into leaving drugs," says Dante Ray, a junior on
E.E. Smith's forensics team. "Some people are followers these days.
They'll keep doing it until they're caught."

"People are gonna do what they're gonna do," adds Arielle. "That's
what it comes down to. A lot of people will have to decide which is
more important to them."

A surprising number, says Fabian.

"It's definitely going to ruffle some feathers, but I think that's
good," he says.

Even if the most likely students will not be tested?

"There are bigger problem people than you'll find in these groups,"
Dante says. He looked at the group sitting around the conference table
with him. "Yeah -- a lot bigger problem people. "