NO, RANDOM STUDENT DRUG TESTING BACKFIRES

It's A Humiliating Violation of Privacy That Has Not Been Proven to Deter
Drug Use

The Office of National Drug Control Policy descends upon Pittsburgh
tomorrow to host the third of four summits around the country promoting
random student drug testing. While the presenters may sound like they have
all the answers to preventing drug abuse, school districts should be wary
- -- if they blindly follow the drug czar's enticements to test, they could
be violating the Pennsylvania Constitution.

The Delaware Valley School District learned this the hard way. The
Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the district's policy forcing
students to consent to random alcohol and other drug testing in order to be
allowed to participate in extracurricular activities or to park their cars
on campus may have been unconstitutional. In the majority opinion, Justice
Castille stated, "The theory apparently is that, even in the absence of any
suspicion of drug or alcohol abuse, in effect: 'Choose one: your
Pennsylvania constitutional right to privacy or the chess club.' "

Since the 2003 ruling, schools throughout Pennsylvania have abandoned drug
testing programs, citing lack of money, legal fears and questions about
whether the programs were effective.

Pennsylvanian parents, educators and judges aren't the only ones
questioning the logic of random student drug testing: This is the second
year of the Bush administration's student drug-testing summits as well as
offers of federal funding, and yet many around the country continue to
resist the administration's attempt to sell the idea.

As the mother of four, a National Institute on Drug Abuse scholar and
director of a drug-abuse prevention program advocating science-based drug
education for teens, I urge Pittsburgh educators and parents to be wary of
"feel good" promises. Consider the very real pitfalls:

* Random drug testing has not been proven to deter drug use. In 2003, the
National Institute on Drug Abuse funded the largest study ever conducted on
the topic. Researchers compared 76,000 students in schools with and without
drug testing and found no difference in illegal drug use between the two
school environments. In a 2005 report that critiqued studies touted by the
Office of National Drug Control Policy in support of random student drug
testing, Professor Neil McKegany of the University of Glasgow found
fundamental flaws and biases, saying, "It is a matter of concern that
student drug testing has been widely developed in the United States ... on
the basis of the slimmest available research evidence."

* Random drug testing alienates students; it is a humiliating violation of
privacy that already self-conscious adolescents should not have to endure.
Former Belle Vernon High School football coach Gary Dongilli originally
pushed for testing but now says, "I'd never again advise a school system to
do it," he said in an April 2004 Post-Gazette article. "There was supposed
to be confidentiality with testing, but there wasn't."

* Drug testing can have the unanticipated effect of deterring students from
after-school programs -- activities that would fill their time during the
peak teenage drug-using hours of 3-6 p.m.

* Random testing infuses an insidious sense of suspicion into the delicate
student-teacher relationship, which can create a hostile school
environment. This is disturbing in light of research that shows that
student connectedness with their school is an important predictor of success.

* Drug testing is expensive and inefficient. School districts across the
country, including many in Pennsylvania, are in financial crisis. The
Shaler Area School District scrapped its testing proposal due to budgetary
concerns.

* Some argue that students need drug testing to help them say "no," but
research questions this assumption. The 2004 State of Our Nation's Youth
survey found that, contrary to popular belief, most teens are not pressured
to use drugs. Besides, if teens don't learn how to respond to the
omnipresence of the drug culture when they are in high school, when will
they learn?

Drug testing may seem a panacea, but it is fraught with social, emotional
and financial problems. Before we leap into a school program that seems too
good to be true and uses students as guinea pigs, we should examine the
many repercussions, pitfalls and alternatives to random student drug
testing. Otherwise, we may be sorry.