DRUG TESTING FOR ALL STUDENTS AT SALPOINTE

Salpointe Catholic High School is set to become the first school in
Pima County to require the entire student body undergo drug testing.

The program will start in the fall, said Mike Urbanski, head of
student services at Salpointe, 1545 E. Copper Street.

Urbanski said the program will be modeled after the one used at St.
Patrick High School in Chicago, where hair samples have been used to
test for drugs since 2004.

The test uses a strand of hair from each student, which is a more
reliable test for longtime drug use than the more common urinalysis,
according to the Web site for Psychemedics, the company that will run
Salpointe's tests.

Evidence of drug use stays in the hair for about 90 days, more than
ten times longer than it would in urine or saliva, the company says,
and washing hair cannot remove any indication of drug use.

The list of drugs that can be detected with hair testing include
cocaine, marijuana, opiates, methamphetamine, ecstasy and
phencyclidine, or PCP.

Consequences of a positive test include a conference with parents and
Urbanski, in which counseling options will be considered. The student
also will have to agree to take another test 100 days after the first
test.

A second positive result could mean suspension or expulsion. Some of
the more than 1,200 students at Salpointe said they learned of the
program through word-of-mouth. The announcement was met with mixed
emotions.

"It's almost untrusting of the students," said sophomore Mark Mangn,
16. "It's kind of necessary though. If people need help, they need
help."

Read more in Tuesday's Daily Star.