Our View

TESTING TEENS FOR DRUGS

Give Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey credit for starting a needed discussion on
teenage substance abuse.

Healey unveiled a Romney administration proposal this week to expand the
testing of students for drugs that is currently allowed at proms and
after-school events at Massachusetts high schools.

The administration proposes allowing schools to conduct drug tests during
the regular school day - providing that the parents of the student have
given permission for the test.

The idea isn't meant to be punitive - results of the drug tests would be
reported to parents and school officials, but not police.

The idea is to catch students who are potentially harming themselves and
need help before it's too late. The plan is included in a $9.1 million
omnibus anti-drug package that also calls for two €'€'sobriety high
schools" in Boston and Springfield, where students recovering from drug
addiction could continue their rehab while finishing their education.

Minnesota is among the states that report sobriety high schools can have a
huge success rate in helping students. Civil libertarians - and teenagers -
are likely to raise invasion of privacy concerns to expanded drug testing.

Those concerns may be valid, but they must be weighed against the epidemic
of substance abuse.

Drug and alcohol abuse is a painfully frequent problem facing teenagers -
the Bay State's teen substance abuse rate is among the highest in the
country, according to Healey, and teens admitted for substance abuse
treatment experimented with drugs at an average age of 13. The
administration's 93-page plan focuses on identifying, treating and
preventing drug use in schools, an effort public health officials say is
long overdue. The state spends more than $250 million a year on substance
abuse treatment programs, with prevention accounting for just 11 percent of
those funds. Healey endorses a far more comprehensive prevention and
treatment program. Anyone who reads the newspapers or talks with high
school students knows the toll that drugs and alcohol are taking on young
minds and lives.

Testing students for drugs in school may sound extreme to some, but it is a
debate worth having.