STUDENT DRUG TESTING HOTLY ARGUED

WASHINGTON -- The drug-testing debate striking the San Joaquin Valley
this week already has provoked conflicting answers in classrooms and
courtrooms alike.

By convening a Fresno summit Thursday, one of four being held
nationwide, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy
hopes to open what officials term "a dialogue" about school drug
testing. It's a conversation for which the White House, at least,
already has formed a conclusion.

"They have a deterrent effect," Brian Blake, a spokeswoman for the
White House drug office, said of random drug tests, "and they help
identify kids who may have a drug problem in the early stages, so they
can get treatment."

Some agree, some do not, and most still are finding their way.

One Town's Experience

In Oklahoma's panhandle, the town of Guymon formerly tested students.
Eventually, some students began quitting the after-school activities,
said Guymon's assistant superintendent, Douglas Melton, and the
district stopped the testing over questions about its
cost-effectiveness.

"It's very expensive," Melton said in a telephone interview Tuesday,
citing an $18,000 cost in a district with one high school and one
junior high school. "So instead of spending the money on testing, we
hired a resource officer instead."

But because a new federal grant will pay for the local resource
officer, Melton added, the Guymon schools anticipate resuming testing
within weeks.

Symbolically, Guymon's experience cuts in several directions.

The district's original decision to quit testing was highlighted by
the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that opposes random drug
testing. The Guymon district's decision to renew testing, thanks to a
temporary federal grant, is thus a public relations blow to the
alliance, which says studies fail to show any benefit to drug testing.

A University of Michigan study of 76,000 students nationwide between
1998 and 2001 concluded that testing appeared futile. For instance, 37
percent of high school seniors had tried marijuana in schools with
drug testing; in schools without drug testing, 36 percent had tried
marijuana.

"Randomly testing kids is incredibly ineffective," said Ethan
Nadelmann, director of the Drug Policy Alliance.

Blake replied that the design of the University of Michigan study did
not provide for an accurate assessment of the kind of random testing
that schools use. There are no solid figures for how many schools
test, though the Drug Policy Alliance puts the estimate at roughly 5
percent of the nation's schools.

Fresno Mayor Backs Testing

In California, Fresno Mayor Alan Autry has urged school districts to
start the random urine checks that can cost $15 to $40 per test. Bret
Harte High School in Angels Camp began randomly testing student
athletes last year, over some local objections. Few others do in the
state, though Modesto City Schools will be sending a representative to
the Fresno drug-testing summit to learn more.

"We're in a wait-and-see mode," said Jim Pfaff, associate
superintendent of the 34,000- student Modesto district. "We'd like to
see what are the benefits and what are the pitfalls."

Legal challenges, too, continue despite a 5-4 decision by the Supreme
Court in 2002 that upheld testing of students engaged in
extracurricular activities. The court's majority termed random drug
testing "a reasonably effective means of addressing the school
district's legitimate concerns" in preventing drug use.

Nevertheless, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in November ruled
unanimously that a National Honor Society member still could use the
state's constitutional guarantee of privacy to challenge the Delaware
Valley School District's drug-testing policy.

Pennsylvania Court Disagrees

"Many students could reasonably consider production of a urine sample
for testing to involve a greater imposition than the ordinary use of a
public restroom," the Pennsylvania Supreme Court noted. The justices
added that testing students active in extracurricular activities
apparently served strictly "symbolic purposes; their privacy rights
(were) deemed forfeit so as to set an example for other students."

But in Polk County, Florida, officials are about to resume drug
testing with the help of a $236,080 federal grant. Between 1996 and
2000, student athletes were randomly tested for drugs at a district
high school, according to Ed Boos, the district's health supervisor.

Boos said the testing ceased because money ran out. Now, relying on
the three-year federal grant, the Polk County district eventually will
start testing about 4,800 student athletes. Boos said student surveys
from the prior testing showed drug use fell during the testing period
and rose once random testing ended.

"We felt like (our prior) drug testing was a good prevention program,"
Boos said.

The Polk County grant is one of eight this year offered under a $2
million Education Department grant program designed to encourage drug
testing. The Bush administration proposes increasing this grant
program to $25 million next year.

"The aim here is not to punish children, but to send them this
message: We love you, and we don't want to lose you," Bush declared in
his State of the Union speech.