DRUG-TESTING PROS & CONS

I add my voice to others that the WJC School Board reject random
student drug-testing in the local high schools.

As the grandmother of five WJC students, the former coordinator of
Health Services in WJC Schools for 16 years, and a past president of
the Virginia Board of Nursing (which deals with many cases of
addiction by health professionals), I concur with the results of
national studies that drug-testing is not an effective preventive
strategy, but is an effective treatment strategy for those with
problems of addiction.

Why, then, should we subject actively involved, non-using kids to
urinate in a cup with a witness present? How embarrassing and
demeaning. The 29 or so kids who do have a problem can be treated
outside of school hours, and the use of random urine testing for them
is certainly appropriate and advisable.

Perhaps the role of the schools should continue to be education and
effective decision-making. The rest of us should take much more
seriously that we are all role models for the young people of this community.

Ann Yankovich

Williamsburg