DRUG TESTS DON'T WORK, ALIENATE KIDS

I applaud the community members who spoke out against proposed student
drug testing as the solution to higher reported rates of substance use
at Yoncalla.

Expensive and ineffective urinalysis tests alienate students by
sending them the message that adults (parents and administrators
alike) do not trust them to take responsibility for their actions on
their own, and they need to be monitored.

The funds that would be allotted for this program need to be used to
address the larger, more deeply ingrained issue of why students are
using drugs at such a high rate.

Instead, drug testing is addressing only a symptom and not the true
problem of the whole disease of deviant behavior.

Anastacia Cosner

University of Maryland,

College Park, Md.

President, Students for Sensible Drug Policy