DRUG TESTING NOT A DETERRENT TO USE

The Jan. 30 article titled "Bush barnstormer touts teen drug tests"
mentioned that the American Civil Liberties Union and the Drug Policy
Alliance oppose testing on privacy grounds.

There is another reason to oppose testing: It simply does not
work.

A little noticed 2003 analysis done by researchers at the Institute
for Social Research, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, reports
"no significant differences in marijuana use or the use of other
illicit drugs as a function of whether or not the school has (a) drug
testing of any kind, (b) drug testing of students based on cause or
suspicion or (c) drug testing of athletes.

Nor is there evidence that the heavy drug-using segment of the student
population, specifically, is deterred from using marijuana or other
illicit drugs by random or for cause testing."

JOHN CHASE

Palm Harbor