RETIRED DA: TEST STUDENTS FOR DRUGS

Harry Connick Sr. Says Testing Could Help Curb Abuse Among Young People

It may be an uphill battle, but subjecting students to drug testing could
prove a beneficial way to fight drug use by young people, retired Orleans,
La., Parish District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. told Mobile United members
Tuesday.

Connick came to Mobile to discuss how drug testing helped turn around some
New Orleans students who -- if left alone -- probably would have added to
the city's crime statistics.

"The most serious menace to our young people is drugs, Connick said at the
early morning meeting at the International Trade Club in downtown Mobile.
The homicide rate in New Orleans is connected to drugs.

On Sunday, the Times Picayune of New Orleans started a series of articles
dealing with the addiction and death wrought by the city's drug trade. New
Orleans has one of the highest murder rates in the country.

During the nearly 30 years that Connick served as district attorney, he
said, he prosecuted numerous cases involving drugs.

You could almost eliminate homicide if you eliminated drugs, he said. The
one way to detect drugs it to test.

Connick said getting New Orleans public schools' participation has proven
to be the hardest hurdle to overcome. A handful of private Catholic schools
in the Crescent City have committed to the testing program, but public
school administrators have avoided the issue, he said during the
question-and-answer session.

Connick, who is white, said the public school system in New Orleans is
predominantly black, and public school officials told him they didn't want
the DA messing with their kids.

"I told them I was already messing with their kids in the judicial system,
he said. This racial thing comes up, but it's not a racial thing. They all
are our children.

In New Orleans, the private schools can test students' hair as well urine
samples.

Urine samples are good for determining which drugs are in a student's
system at the moment, Connick said. But hair is better for determining how
long a student has been using drugs, he said.

A similar program to test some students has made a few inroads in Mobile
County.

Sheriff Jack Tillman launched a program in January directed at varsity and
junior varsity baseball players at Mary G. Montgomery High School. Tillman
offered department funding for similar programs at five other high schools:
Alma Bryant, Baker, Citronelle, Satsuma and Theodore.

Some area private schools in Mobile and Baldwin counties have started
testing students. But the Mobile County public school board voted in August
to oppose widespread drug testing.

The New Orleans schools that are testing have different methods of handling
students who test positive for illegal drug use, Connick said.

Pat Taylor, a Mobile United member, said drug testing programs are not in
place to catch anyone, but to prevent drug use.

"It's a health issue, not a social issue.