DRUG TESTING CAN'T CATCH EVERY ABUSED SUBSTANCE

The Superior School Board needs to educate itself on the limitations
of student drug testing ("Superior schools consider drug testing,"
March 26). Student involvement in after-school activities like sports
has been shown to reduce drug use. Such activities keep kids busy
during the hours they're 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 a positive test result.

Despite a short-lived high, I believe 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 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 the lives
of far more students 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

Arlington, VA.

The writer is a policy analyst for Common Sense for Drug Policy in
Washington, D.C.