SHS TEENS DEBATE DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS

Some Somerville teens believe parents and schools should butt into their
lives through drug testing.

Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey announced a plan last week that would allow high
schools to conduct drug tests on students whose parents give permission.

Chris Fusco, a senior at Somerville High School, said testing his peers for
drug use would help them get treatment.

"I think they do need it," he said. "There's too much stuff going on at
this school. Thirty-five percent of the school would be gone."

Fusco said Somerville students who use drugs predominantly choose marijuana
and ecstasy. The city experienced a rash of OxyContin overdoses - some of
them fatal - in the 2003-04 school year.

Federal court rulings have allowed schools to test students involved in
extracurricular activities for drug use.

Christina Fodera, a freshman at Somerville High School, said she believes
schools need a warrant to test students for drug use, unless they are an
athlete suspected of using steroids or other substances.

"Just to test kids in general, for the school's curiosity, that's wrong,"
she said.

Healey's drug testing plan is part of a $9.1 million antidrug package which
would need the Legislature's approval. Mayors and school superintendents of
cities and towns would decide whether to participate in drug testing.

Al Argenziano, superintendent of Somerville Public Schools, said Healey's
plan has not yet been proposed as formal legislation, and probably won't
draw a lot of support in its current form because "it doesn't have much teeth."

Argenziano said drug testing that is optional, and not mandatory for all
students and schools, may not be effective.

"Voluntary won't work," he said. "Either we do it or we don't do it."

Parents of students who use drugs may decline giving the school permission
to test their child for substance abuse, Argenziano said.

"Maybe when a parent says no, it's the kid who really needs it," he said.

Jeniffer Knowles, a recovered alcoholic and drug user who has two teens in
Somerville Public Schools, said she supports "zero tolerance" for drug use
in schools, but does not favor widespread drug testing of teens.

"Testing kids just out of the blue like that wouldn't be too smart," she
said. "Kids are very funny, they're very sensitive. It's very easy for them
to lose trust in someone."

Knowles said students should not have to fear teachers and other adults
they confide in at school. Students who schools find are on drugs at school
should be picked up by their guardian, brought to a doctor and enrolled in
a treatment program, she said.

At home, parents should keep a close watch on alcohol or any substance
children could use to get high, she said.

"I don't keep anything in the medicine cabinet," Knowles said. "My kids
have to come to me to get their allergy pills."

Victor Nascimento, a Somerville High School senior, agrees adults should
not give teens the benefit of the doubt. He said drug tests in schools
would be tools for intervening early in the lives of young people bound for
worse drug problems.

"Besides, it's illegal," he said. "I think it's wrong to invade kids'
privacy just to find out what they're up to, but drug use is illegal."