AGREES WITH RECENT COLUMN ON DRUG-TESTING

Dave Russell's column, "Haywood drug-testing program has the wrong
students in its sights," (AC-T, June 21), was right on target.
Student involvement in after-school activities 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

Washington, D.C.

Sharpe is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy