DRUG TESTING FAILS

Apparently, Kansas educators did not bother to educate themselves on the
limitations of drug testing ("Caldwell school drug policy adopted by more
districts," Aug. 20 Eagle). If they had conducted independent research
rather than accept the claims of drug-testing profiteers, they would likely
have arrived at the conclusion that drug testing is an expensive scam. Any
student capable of running an Internet search can thwart a drug test.

Urinalysis is virtually useless when it comes to detecting hard drugs. As
such it can have the counterproductive effect of encouraging hard drug use
when forced upon smokers of relatively harmless marijuana. The most
commonly abused drug and one often associated with violent behavior is
almost impossible to detect with urinalysis. That drug is alcohol, which
takes student lives every year.

Hair testing is no silver bullet, either. Dark-haired individuals are more
likely to test positive when hair tests are used, while fair-haired drug
users have a good chance of escaping detection. This inherent racial bias
is reason enough to avoid using hair tests, especially in light of the fact
that blacks already bear the brunt of antidrug enforcement. Why not
evaluate students based on academic performance rather than the contents of
their hair or urine?

Robert Sharpe
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
George Washington University, Washington, D.C.