DRUG TESTING STUDENTS RAISES HOPE, ALARM

BOSTON -- Proponents of drug testing high school students say it will
deter those who fear being caught, but opponents say the practice is
an invasion of privacy and does not address the reasons young people
take drugs.

In some states drug testing policies, especially for students on
athletic teams, is common. In the Bay State many schools do not have
such policies, and the courts have not ruled on their constitutionality.

Framingham High School Vice Principal Frank Rothwell was among the
panelists yesterday at a drug testing forum at the Sheraton Boston
Hotel. The roundtable talk was sponsored by Avitar Inc., a
manufacturer of drug tests for schools and companies.

Rothwell said a handful of drug tests are given each year at
Framingham High, but only if officials suspect someone is under the
influence of drugs or alcohol. The school has a three-person system.

"If a teacher suspects something, they will tell me," Rothwell said.
"I will grab the student, and if I suspect something we'll catch
another vice principal or a nurse. Then we ask if something is wrong."

Most times, Rothwell said, he and teachers can tell students are on
drugs or drunk by how they behave or whether their stories sound
plausible. When there is doubt, officials bring out the test.

Many times, Rothwell said, they don't even get that far.

"Ninety-five percent of the students know it's over at that point,"
Rothwell said. "They will give up and tell us."

Calvina Fay of the Drug Free America Foundation argued that if
students are coming to school on drugs or drunk they are not just
starting to experiment.

"It's too late at that point," Fay said. "By the time they are bold
enough to show up using drugs, it is already a problem."

Fay said having the threat of a random drug test deters students from
doing drugs, and even gives them a reason to resist peer pressure.

"They can say 'no' because of the possibility that they could be
caught," Fay said. "I've seen it work in the workplace in Houston.
Employees admitted in a survey that they either quit or greatly
reduced drug use because they might be tested."

Marco Cross, a junior at Framingham High, said he does not mind drug
tests from his experience at Framingham High. The only time he has
heard of them being used is if someone shows up obviously drunk or
high at a dance.

"It's a good thing," Cross said. "It keeps the student body safe and
probably prohibits the spread of drugs."

Students do drugs at Framingham High, Cross said, but it is not
something out of control.

Sophomore Matt Caron agreed, saying he has never been offered drugs.
He does not believe in the theory that fellow students will offer a
free try in an attempt to get others hooked.

"The best (explanation) I have heard is that they won't offer you
drugs because it costs them so much," Caron said.

By placing the threat of a drug test on students taking part in high
school sports, clubs and other extracurricular activities, schools
may be alienating the students who most need help, said Tom Angell
from Students for Sensible Drug Policy.

"We need to welcome at-risk students into activities," Angell said.
"We don't want them on the streets, we want them to be in after
school-programs."

Angell argued that if teachers start giving drug tests it would
undermine the trust students have with teachers and others at the school.

Salem is considering whether to institute a testing program. Noreen
Gachignard, chairman of the Salem School Committee, called herself a
"fence-sitter" on the issue of drug testing.

She started out opposed to testing, because it invades students'
privacy. After seeing the results of programs in other states, she
said she can see reasons for doing it. When she talked to parents,
most were in favor.

"I am a single parent," Gachignard said. "My kid is one of the good
ones. She is on the tennis team, she studies. People say that's the
wrong person to test, but I need all the help I can get.

"On the other hand, it raises tension in the area of trust."

David Evans of Drug Free Schools Coalition helped design a testing
program used in New Jersey that he said has curbed drug use. Students
who test positive then go on to five sessions with a drug counselor
and meet with a doctor.

This model would not be realistic in Massachusetts, said Whitney
Taylor of Drug Policy Forum of Massachusetts.

"I don't think the schools in Massachusetts, especially those in poor
communities, could afford five days of counseling," Taylor said.
"They can barely afford to have a school nurse."

Legally in Massachusetts no one can be forced by police to take a
drug test, said Lt. Vincent Alfano of the Framingham Police Department.

"We can't even make someone take a Breathalyzer test (to test blood
alcohol level)," Alfano said. "If I stopped someone driving, and I
suspected them of driving drunk, you could refuse (to take the test)."

However, a driver automatically loses his or her license temporarily
for that refusal.

Rothwell said he has noticed that many times drug testing targets
some of the most at-risk people in society.

"I have been in education for 15 years and I have never been tested,
and my wife is a successful businesswoman and she has never been
tested," Rothwell said. "But students who are the children of
immigrants, or are immigrants themselves, who need jobs, can't get a
job at Wal-mart because (of their fear) of drug testing."