EDUCATION NEEDED FOR SCHOOL BOARD

The Lake Stevens School Board needs to educate itself on the
limitations of student drug testing. Student involvement in
after-school activities like sports has been shown to reduce drug use.
They keep kids busy during the hours they are most likely to get into
trouble.

Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite
will only discourage participation. Drug testing may also compel
marijuana users to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive.

Despite a short-lived high, marijuana is the only illegal drug that
stays in the human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent.
Marijuana's organic metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger for
days. More dangerous synthetic drugs like methamphetamine are
water-soluble and exit the body quickly. If you think drug users don't
know this, think again.

Anyone capable of running an Internet search can find out how to
thwart a drug test. Drug testing profiteers do not readily volunteer
this information, for obvious reasons. The most commonly abused drug
and the one most closely associated with violent behavior is almost
impossible to detect with urinalysis. That drug is alcohol, and it
takes far more student lives each year than all illegal drugs
combined. Instead of wasting money on counterproductive drug tests,
schools should invest in reality-based drug education.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Common Sense for Drug Policy,

Washington, D.C.