TESTING FOR DRUGS

Beginning this fall, Benedictine students and faculty will undergo
random drug testing. This zero-tolerance approach to illegal drugs is
commendable.

Teenage drug-usage levels are high -- and have continued to climb
throughout the Nineties and into the new millennium. The federal and
state governments hardly have dented the problem. Parents talk tough,
while they abide ever more Ritalin and Prozac for their young.

Benedictine High will be the first Virginia independent day school to
screen for drugs. The Catholic military school is private, so anyone
can opt out of the testing simply by leaving the school. Offended, or
offending, faculty are free to move on, too.

Under Benedictine's plan, first-time offenders will be placed in
drug-treatment programs; a second offense will earn students the boot.
Faculty and staff will be dismissed immediately following a red flag.

Although random drug testing in public schools would spark lively
debate across the political and social spectrum, the idea is not all
bad. And private Benedictine is right to take an aggressive stance on
illegal drugs. Reduction and elimination of teens' dependence on drugs
should remain the overarching goal.