TIMES STAND ON TESTING FOR DRUGS LAUDED

Re: School drug testing sounds like witch hunt, Sept. 24 Times editorial:

Your persistent editorial denunciation of proposals to randomly
urine-test students for drug metabolites without reasonable cause is
welcomed by this parent of three recent high schoolers.

It's clear most parents object to the idea of coercing such bodily
fluid samples from their teenagers. Less than 2 percent of public
schools employ suspicionless urine-testing policies, and most of those
do so only when financing the program with federal taxpayer moneys
funneled through the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The reason? Quite simply, random testing of students' urine has no
measurable effect on illicit drug use by the student populations
tested. University of Michigan researchers concluded in 2003 that
students' drug use in testing schools and nontesting schools were
"virtually identical."

More important, demanding urine samples without cause essentially
tells our drug-free teenagers that their word cannot be trusted.

Is this the kind of relationship that parents want to promote between
ourselves, school administrators and our kids?

Based on the 98 percent of schools that are rejecting random urine
testing of students, it's clear that the answer most parents respond
with is a firm "No." (For additional relevant information, interested
parents and school officials might consider visiting
http://www.drugtestingfails.org)

Stephen Heath

Public relations director

Drug Policy Forum of Florida

Clearwater