A FLAWED EFFORT

A Mobile County Program To Test Teens Is Another Blind Alley In The
Drug War

Good intentions don't necessarily provide reliable solutions to
complex problems. Case in point: a drug-testing program in Mobile County.

The head of the county's health department has worked out a deal with
the court system's laboratory; that lab already monitors some 47,000
people convicted of drug use and other offenses. For $5, beginning
Jan. 2, you can take your teen-ager to the lab to be tested for drug
use if you so desire.

Sounds like a good idea until you stop to think about it.

If you have no reason to suspect your child of drug use, why would you
subject him or her to a test? If you have evidence of drug use, your
child should be in a counseling program. Depending on the severity of
the problem, that counseling may include periodic testing.

Furthermore, Alabama's public health agencies have been woefully
underfunded and overextended since their inception. Too much work
remains in fighting communicable diseases.

The Mobile program doesn't speak to increased public health treatment
of young people identified as drug users. By using the court system
program for the testing, the public health agency has formed a
questionable alliance. Are kids going to be arrested or treated if
they test positive for drugs? If they are to be treated at public
expense, who pays for it? Or do you want your child in the court
system for smoking pot?

The Mobile program is, its founders say, the first of its kind in the
country. That may be because other cities and counties have decided
that it's another blind alley in the drug war.

It's certainly not something that Madison County, with a health
department beset by lack of money and adequate facilities, would want
to adopt.