LAMAR DRUG POLICY MAY BE NEEDED

At least 15 Lamar County public school students have been suspended or
expelled for drug use in the past two years, according to Lamar County
School Superintendent Glenn Swan.

And while that's a fraction of the number of students attending the school,
it does point to a worrisome problem that Lamar County shares with schools
nationwide: Teens can and do turn to drugs.

According to a federally funded study released last week, use of illegal
drugs has been in a slow decline among eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders. But
despite the good news, there's still the fact that about 40 percent of
seniors taking part in a survey by the University of Michigan said they
used drugs.

Administrators in Lamar County schools are in the process of finalizing a
plan that calls for mandatory testing of all student athletes and random
testing of students involved in extracurricular activities such as the
marching band.

Is there a payoff for a plan that might cost $13,000? Some Lamar County
parents and educators think so. They say students with developing
substance-abuse problems can be targeted with punitive action and be
required to attend counseling. Parents would be notified and presumably
would also become involved in intervention as well.

Lamar County is hardly the first public school district to look at using
drug tests. Petal's public schools have tested their athletes for a decade
and, last year, expanded the policy to include extracurricular activities.

Said Petal student Zach Mills: "A bunch of guys around here stopped because
they feared getting caught."

The drug testing takes the place, in some cases, of the close parental
supervision that is lacking for many students. Once again, it is the
schools which must provide surrogate parenting services and take on another
layer of costly oversight.

The decision to implement the $13,000 program is a hard choice to make for
a district that routinely grapples with overcrowding and funding shortfalls.

But the payoff could result in scaring some students away from taking
illegal drugs and perhaps counsel others to change their ways before their
choices lead to more dire consequence