JEFF PLAN ON DRUG TESTING PRAISED

School System To Take Districtwide Approach

When Jefferson Parish public schools begin testing high school students for
drugs next school year, the system could become the first in the United
States to adopt districtwide drug testing, officials said Monday. Orleans
Parish District Attorney Harry Connick, a leading proponent of school drug
testing, and U.S. Rep. David Vitter, R-Metairie, who is working to secure
federal financing for the program, said Jefferson will be a national model
for public school drug testing.

And the president of the largest hair sample testing firm, Raymond Kubacki
of Psychemedics Corp. in Cambridge, Mass., said private and public schools
have adopted drug testing on an individual basis but that Jefferson is the
first system he knows of to do it as a whole.

The Jefferson Parish School Board approved the policy last month.

It makes it mandatory for high school athletes and students in other
physically strenuous activities to have their hair clipped and analyzed by
Psychemedics. And all students at two schools, East Jefferson High in
Metairie and John Ehret High in Marrero, will be able to volunteer for
testing with parental permission.

Students who test positive will be suspended from extracurricular
activities and referred to treatment programs. They will not be kicked out
of school or reported to the criminal justice system.

"It was really a very easy sell to me," Vitter said during a press
conference with other officials on Monday. "This program can save lives.
The first step to saving the life of a young person with a drug problem is
to identify the problem."

School drug testing, however, draws opposition from the American Civil
Liberties Union. Joe Cook, executive director of the ACLU in New Orleans,
argues it is unfair to test people without cause to believe they are using
drugs.