DRUG TESTING AT SCHOOLS A LIFE-OR-DEATH ISSUE FOR SOME

ASHEVILLE - Zach Davis might as well be at the center of Buncombe County's
debate over the effectiveness of testing high school students for drug use.
Davis' parents believe a severe reaction to methadone killed their son in
January. The county school system's proposed test would have failed to
detect the drug, but a testing program might have been enough of a
deterrent to keep the Owen High athlete away from methadone.

"I'm not going to say that drug testing at school could have saved my son's
life, but it could save other kids' lives," said Robert Davis, Zach's
father. "I think the school system should have more authority to
investigate drug usage."

The Buncombe County Board of Education today will consider giving Roberson
High that power in voting on a proposal to institute mandatory random drug
testing at the school. The plan would apply only to students involved in
sports and other extracurricular activities.

Board members say they believe drug screening eventually will be put into
place at all six county high schools.

School board member Wendell Begley, a former undercover narcotics
enforcement officer in the early 1970s, said he believes testing could have
saved Zach Davis' life, even though a recent national study says chances of
that are slim.

"The thing that I never forgot was how some of those kids got sucked into
that stuff," Begley said. "I saw firsthand what it did."

Parents need all the tools they can get in the fight to keep their kids off
drugs, said Roberson Principal George Drake, who came up with the testing
plan. Critics contend random screening needlessly trumps the privacy rights
of students, creates feelings of mistrust between students and educators
and is a waste of money.

The first large-scale national study of the subject found that drug testing
in schools failed to deter drug use.

The University of Michigan study found, for example, that 21 percent of
12th-graders in schools with testing said they had used other illicit drugs
such as cocaine and heroin in the last year. In schools without screening,
19 percent said they had done so. The same pattern held for every other
drug and grade level.

Doug Williams, a senior at Roberson, said students often do drugs,
particularly marijuana, on school grounds.

"The drug problem in the school is getting out of hand," said Williams, who
favors mandatory testing. "A lot of people come high to school, and the
staff basically does nothing about it."

Students in Buncombe County Schools were cited for possession of a
controlled substance 45 times in 1998-99, a figure that grew to 125 in
2001-02 before declining to 105 the following year, according to the N.C.
Department of Public Instruction.

"More and more it just seems to be too common and too readily accepted,"
said Fred Park, Roberson's athletic director. "Kids are more mobile. They
have a lot more freedom. They have the means financially to do what they
want to do, so it's a challenge for them to say no." Park said it stands to
reason that Roberson might have more of a problem with drugs than other
area high schools because the district is more affluent and the students
have more spending money.

Ellen Crouch, who has a sophomore at Roberson, said parents are in denial
about the possibility their children could become involved. "Unfortunately,
drugs are a problem," she said. "I think Roberson is very wise to get on
top of the problem."

But support for the plan is by no means unanimous. Carol Giauque has two
daughters at Roberson and believes drug testing is civil rights violation.
"I think a better option would be to make it an option for parents who
think their children are on drugs," Giauque said.

School board member Jim Edmonds also has reservations and said he hasn't
decided whether to support the plan. He points out there is no conclusive
evidence that testing deters drug use.

"I think anytime you go to mandatory testing, then people are giving up
rights," Edmonds said. "I want to make sure we're not doing things that are
unfair to people."

Edmonds said he has concerns that because the Supreme Court has said that
only students involved in extracurricular activities can be tested, those
going out of their way to participate in school will be singled out. A
better approach might be to seek parental consent, he said. Roberson junior
Koohei Umeno also thinks it's unfair and believes the policy will
discourage participation in after-school activities. "I think it's a huge
invasion of privacy," he said. "It's our personal lives, and they are
trying to come into it."

The proposal calls for: Random tests of about 25 percent of Roberson High's
students who participate in sports and other extracurricular activities at
cost of about $6,000. Using saliva tests in which a swab would be placed
under the tongue for three to five minutes.

Notifying school system's central office of any positive test. Parents of
students would then be notified, but the school would not. Testing for
marijuana, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, and methamphetamines. A separate
test would be administered for alcohol.

Giving parents of students testing positive options for drug counseling.
The school system would not pay for the counseling. A single positive test
would not result in a student being banned from extracurricular activities,
but further positives could.

On the Net Partnership for a Drug Free America: www.drugfreeamerica.org
Drug Abuse Resistance Education: www.dare.com Leadership to Keep Children
Alcohol Free: www.alcoholfreechildren.org Students Against Destructive
Decisions: www.saddonline.com Office of National Drug Control Policy:
www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov Families and Schools Together:
www.wcer.wisc.edu/fast Fighting Back: www.fighting-back.org Drug Policy
Alliance: www.drugpolicy.org Drug violations Chart shows number of students
in Buncombe County Schools cited for possession of a controlled substance
on school grounds in violation of the law. 1998-99: 45 1999-00: 45 2000-01:
55 2001-02: 125 2002-03: 105 Source: N.C. Department of Public Instruction
Availability of Illicit Drugs among Youth In 2002, more than half of youths
12 to 17 felt that marijuana was easy to obtain. Almost 17 percent of
youths reported they had been approached by someone selling drugs within
the past month.

Youths who felt that illicit drugs were easy to obtain or who reported
being approached by someone selling drugs within the past month were more
likely to use illicit drugs.

Twelve percent of youths surveyed used an illicit drug within the past
month. Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health Michigan study
findings Based on data collected by researchers at the University of
Michigan from 76,000 students in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades, the
study found that drug testing does not have an impact on illicit drug use
among students, including athletes.

The results of the federally financed survey were published in April 2003
in the Journal of School Helath. Among the findings: 37 percent of
12th-graders in schools that tested for drugs said they smoked marijuana in
the last year, compared to 36 percent in schools that did not. 21 percent
of 12th-graders in schools with testing said they had used other illicit
drugs such as cocaine and heroin in the last year, while 19 percent of
their counterparts in schools without screening said they had done so. The
same pattern held for every other drug and grade level. 18 percent of the
nation's schools did screening from 1998 to 2001, most of them high
schools. The group of students most commonly tested consisted of those
identified "for cause" based on suspicion that they had been using an
illicit drug. Fewer schools indicated they tested for other reasons. "It
suggests that there really isn't an impact from drug testing as practiced,"
said Dr. Lloyd Johnson, one of the Michigan researchers. "It's the kind of
intervention that doesn't win the hearts and minds of children. I don't
think it brings about any constructive changes in their attitudes about
drugs or their belief in the dangers associated with using them."