IS DRUG TESTING STUDENTS A GOOD IDEA?

It's A Trend Sweeping The Nation. But Critics Say It's Unnecessary And
Invasive.

In the mid 1980s, Vernonia (Ore.) High School had such a bad drug problem
that the librarian was finding small marijuana plants growing in her library.

It turns out Vernonia's students were throwing pot seeds in with the potted
plants.

Student athletes were some of the biggest users. And what irked school
officials was the way kids flaunted their drugs.

"Two of our football players said they used amphetamines during a game,"
says Randy Aultman, Vernonia's principal at that time. "They really
believed there was nothing we could do about it."

Aultman tried, though. He used drugsniffing dogs. He brought in pro
wrestlers to denounce usage.

Nothing worked.

So his school began drugtesting student athletes, figuring there would be a
trickledown effect since jocks are seen as role models. The change at
Vernonia, many people there say, was noticeable almost immediately.

"We ran into something that forced us to do something drastic," says
Aultman, who was in Des Moines Thursday as part of a national tour
advocating student drug testing.

Aultman predicts that by the end of the year, every state will have a
school district testing its athletes. Iowa currently has none. But
judging by the response of Aultman's audience some administrators were
calling Aultman a hero the state will soon have schools running urinalysis
on its athletes.

Pennsylvanian Congressman John Peterson is willing to help. He's
introduced a bill that will provide federal funds for schools that test
athletes.

Aultman, of course, is credited with putting national student drug testing
in place. He was in the middle of a 1995 Supreme Court case that allowed
testing athletes in schools. A Vernonia 7th grade student named James
Acton challenged the policy in court. He wanted to play football for
Washington Middle School but refused to be tested on grounds of privacy.

Aultman expected Vernonia to lose. But the courts initially decided in the
school's favor. The 9th Appeals Court overturned the ruling, setting the
stage for the high court's 63 landmark decision.

"They said a safe and free school was more important than the individual
rights of James Acton," says Aultman, who says Vernonia's school board
members are the real heroes for enacting the district's policy.

Urine Clear

More recently, the 7th Appellate Court ruled that school districts in
Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin can test students involved in all
extracurricular activities. Based on Vernonia's case, the judges concluded
"successful extracurricular activities require healthy students."

While few people would refute that, some school officials say testing is
unnecessary. Schools in Iowa have a good conduct policy. If you're busted
for drugs or for any violation of school rules you might be kicked off a
team or club.

If an athlete says he isn't on drugs, ask him to prove it.

"Put the burden on them," says Mary Gannon, an attorney for the Iowa
Association of School Boards.

Since the standard to test and the standard to discipline are the same, it
makes no sense especially given the costs of drug testing to require every
athlete to take a urinalysis, Gannon says.

Additionally, most schools are reporting an alcohol problem not the abuse
of opiates, methamphetamine or marijuana.

"When they are being bad, it's usually beer," says Kathy Collins of the
School Administrators of Iowa, which has no official policy on drug
testing. "After school they might get together, then go back to school to
watch a volleyball game. That's not to say drugs aren't a problem. But
alcohol is probably a problem that's more in need of a fix.

And as Aultman pointed out during his seminar, some students at Vernonia
felt that users simply turned to harsher but undetectable drugs like LSD.
Or athletes were able to pass their tests by drinking Urine Clear or some
other masking product.

Collins also cautions that the Supreme Court's Vernonia ruling was narrow,
meaning Iowa schools will have to show they have severe drug problems and
have taken enough measures to try to thwart drug use.

"If you're saying that injuries are attributable to drugs in practice and
games, do you have indication that kids are taking them?" Collins asks. "Or
steroids, for that matter?"

Marched off

For schools that are using it, drug screening has proven to be effective.
"There are two things kids like," says Ron Slinger, former athletic
director of Dixon (Calif.) High School, which is 20 miles west of
Sacramento. "They love sports and they love to drive their cars. If you
threaten either one of these things, you have their attention right away."

Slinger implemented drug testing after his football coach reported players
smoking pot on the team bus after a game. Dixon spends $15,000 a year on
the tests and provides counseling for athletes who test positive. First
time offenders are suspended from the team. Third time offenders are kicked
off permanently.

Like Vernonia, Dixon finds very few students testing positive. Slinger says
the program isn't meant to be punitive. Rather, deterrence is the motive.

"We are just buying time, helping students make good decisions until they
become old enough to make them on their own," says Dixon, who also spoke at
the seminar.

Good conduct policies are nice, but they're not always effective, many
teachers say. The Prairie CityMonroe school district discovered in
September how capricious they can be.

According to the Newton Daily News, High School Principal Ron Young
suspended three football players after police told him they were cited for
possessing alcohol at a party in July.

The players, Jason Archer, Caleb Sellers and James Timmons, appealed to
District Superintendent Oran Teut, who upheld Young's decision.

But six school board members overturned Teut's ruling. Since state law
protecting juveniles prevented them from reading police reports and since
police officers were unable to provide specifics on the citations there
wasn't enough evidence to suspend the players.

Proof, however, is just what Aultman is selling. A player is much less
likely to appeal a urinalysis, he argues. Besides, without a drug test,
teachers might appear to be arbitrarily singling some students.

"If you just have a belief and no proof, you're going to be in trouble,"
says Aultman, who was characterized by the Oregonian newspaper as Adolph
Hitler because of his protesting stance.

At least one Des Moines student thinks testing is a good idea. Tim Kurth,
a senior defensive back and captain of North High School's swim team, says
students who don't do drugs have little to fear.

"Why should it bother me?" asks Kurth, who says it's "just a fact" there's
a lot of drug usage on his campus.

Then again, he also suggests that testing athletes might actually lead to
more abuse.

"If they're not playing sports, they will have more time to do it."

They'd be simply joining an evergrowing crowd, according to some figures.
In a recent survey, 50 percent of all 9th graders said they will try
illegal drugs during high school. More than 11 percent of children 12 to
17 reported using drugs or alcohol during the past month. In 1970, the
average age of the firsttime user was 17. By 1996, the average age had
dropped to 12.

Kids today also must look forward to an America where drug testing is
normal. More than 80 percent of major companies now require a urinalysis
as a preemployment screen.

As Thomas Christ, an ACLU lawyer who represented James Acton, said after
the Supreme Court ruling, "I think that everyone soon will be marching off
to the urinals."

Checked-by: Richard Lake