KIDS REJECT SCHOOL DRUG TESTING

Some Students Support It, But Most Dislike The Lt. Gov's Plan

Zack Morrissey and Sarah Stewart know the kids who smoke marijuana, use
cocaine and dabble in heroin.

The Quincy High School sophomores, who said they don't use drugs, say
random drug testing at high schools, a plan proposed this week by Lt. Gov.
Kerry Healey, goes too far and is a questionable solution to the problem.
"It's a tough issue, but I really feel it comes down to a question of
privacy," said Stewart, 15. "(School officials) should have the right to
punish you if you bring drugs into school, but not to randomly test kids."
Said Morrissey, 16, "As long as kids are sober in class, what do (school
officials) care." Healey presented the administration's plan to members of
the Legislature's new Committee on Mental Health and Substance abuse. The
issue immediately sparked debate in school lunchrooms and classrooms across
the state. In an interview yesterday, Healey said random testing would be
done only at high schools where the program has already been adopted
locally, and only students whose parents have signed off on the plan would
be subjected to the tests. The intention, she said, is not to target high
school drug users for criminal prosecution, but to get them help.

"This is not meant to be punitive, but to pick up kids early and get them
into counseling and treatment," she said.

As superintendents come forward with interest in the plan, Healey said she
will be ready to work with them. Both the New Bedford and Salem school
districts are considering adopting the policy, she said.

Before anything can happen, though, the administration is counting on
legislative approval of $9.1 million included in a supplemental budget.
Healey said the money would help 6,000 to 8,000 drug users in need of
rehabilitation services. It would also help attract $14.5 million in
federal matching funds "We're not asking schools to take money out of
education funding; it's coming out of substance abuse funding," she said.

Despite the provision for parental approval of the plan, ACLU spokesman
Sarah Wunsch said random drug testing will certainly be challenged in court
on constitutional grounds.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that students who participate in
competitive extra-curricular activities can be tested, but has drawn the
line there. The issue of other students being subjected to random tests has
yet to be considered by the high court, Wunsch said.

Even with parental approval of the testing, the question remains: Do
students have 4th Amendment rights - protection against illegal searches -
that are independent of their parents' wishes?

Wunsch said that issue remains to be resolved. "You can't invoke a national
drug problem as justification for this," she said. In a ruling that could
offer guidance, she said, the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled that
Boston police officers could not be randomly tested for drugs. "I think
that tells us something about what the SJC would say about random drug
testing of kids," Wunsch said. "Any school system that says this is a great
thing to do will be facing a lawsuit and is taking its chances." Still, not
all students oppose the administration's plan. Bill Wilkinson, a Quincy
High senior, said his contemporary issues class debated the topic this
week. He was one of several students in the minority who support Healey's
proposal.

"Everyone deserves constitutional rights," he said, "but teenagers don't
know what's good for them. I know a lot of kids who use drugs, but not a
lot who go to counseling."
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