DRUG TESTS CAN PUT STUDENTS ON SAFER PATH

Benji Ramirez's death could have been prevented. He was a star player on
the Ashtabula, Ohio, high-school football team. Then he collapsed during
practice one day, dying from an apparent heart attack. Actually, drug abuse
caused his death.

The coach didn't know if Benji was using drugs, nor did any of his other
teachers. His teammates knew, but weren't talking.

We can stop this type of tragedy from happening in Iowa. Random drug
testing might have deterred Benji from his deadly path. It might have even
caught him in time. With this in mind, I have introduced legislation to
allow schools to adopt random drug testing of students participating in
school-sponsored extracurricular activities.

The need is great. According to the 1996 Youth Survey, administered by the
Iowa Department of Education, 39 percent of high-school seniors admit to
regular or heavy alcohol use. And 12 percent of seniors report regular or
heavy marijuana use. This statistic is particularly worrisome in that
marijuana today is many times more potent than it was during the
"Woodstock" days of the late '60s. Even more worrisome, students who use
marijuana are nearly four times as likely to use other illegal drugs than
those who do not. Indeed, marijuana is a major gateway drug leading to
methamphetamine.

Studies have shown that the teen-age years are the time when the physical,
psychological and addictive consequences of drugs are most severe. As
reported in the 1995 U.S. Supreme Court opinion in Vernonia vs. Acton,
which allowed student drug testing, "maturing nervous systems are more
critically impaired by intoxicants than mature ones are; childhood losses
in learning are lifelong and profound; children grow chemically dependent
more quickly than adults, and their record of recovery is depressingly
poor.... And of course the effects of a drug-infected school are visited
not just upon the users, but upon the entire student body."

Safeguards against abuse are provided for in the bill. Schools electing to
use drug testing must furnish a statement of the rights of the student and
the responsibilities of the school in the student handbook, provide advance
parental notification, permit parental presence at the time of testing,
guarantee confidentiality of test results and institute safeguards to
ensure test accuracy.

As stated in the 1995 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that student drug
testing "is reasonable and hence constitutional." Two subsequent U.S. 7th
Circuit Court of Appeals decisions (Schaill vs. Tippecanoe County School
Corp., and Todd vs. Rush County Schools) parallel that of the Supreme
Court. And 23 other states allow for student drug testing.

This initiative is not a state mandate. It empowers locally elected school
boards to maintain their drug-free schools with safe learning environments.
A drug-testing program would give students a ready-made excuse to say no
when pressured to use drugs. And for those students who are using drugs,
testing will lead to early intervention before permanent damage is done, so
these kids can get the counseling and treatment they need.

Some might object to the cost of a drug test, claiming that drug companies
peddling them to school districts stand to make a lot of money.

There would be a cost involved. But I don't imagine that the surviving
family of Benji Ramirez would have objected.

CHARLES LARSON JR. is a Republican state representative for House District
55. He is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and is assistant
attorney for Jones County.