RANDOM STUDENT DRUG TESTING WORKS

It's About Public Health -- Identifying Individuals Who Need Help and
Treatment -- Not Punishment

Over the past three years, youth drug use in America has declined by
17 percent. Today, there are 600,000 fewer young people using drugs
than in 2001. While our prevention efforts are resulting in a national
decline, too many young people are still using drugs. Pennsylvania is
no exception. Our youth continue to use drugs, particularly marijuana,
at an alarming rate. In fact, approximately 15 percent of
Pennsylvanians between the ages of 12 and 17 tried marijuana in 2004,
a startling statistic.

We know from 20 years of experience that we are not powerless against
drug use in America. There are proven methods to reduce the number of
youth who start using drugs. In 2002, a promising solution emerged
when the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for schools to perform
random drug tests on a much larger portion of the student population.

That decision marked the beginning of a hopeful new phase in the
effort to keep our children drug-free. Drug testing is not performed
to punish students or expel them, but rather to identify individuals
who need help, and to refer them to counseling or treatment.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is holding a
series of regional summits throughout the country (including one in
Pittsburgh tomorrow) for concerned education officials and community
leaders to inform them about random student drug testing. Through
these summits we are educating participants about developing student
drug testing policies, legal considerations associated with starting
and executing a program, technology used in administering random drug
tests, the importance of a student assistance program and federal
grant opportunities. The information offered at the summits is for
schools and communities to use in determining if this prevention tool
is appropriate for their needs.

Random student drug testing is not a federal mandate. Individual
communities must determine their own response to addressing the unique
challenges of drug abuse in their areas. For schools and communities
weighing whether or not to implement a student drug testing program, a
few facts merit consideration.

Many Americans still have antiquated notions about the dangers of
marijuana, but research over the last decade has proven the harmful
effects of marijuana use, especially for youth. The National Institute
on Drug Abuse notes that heavy marijuana use impairs the ability of
young people to concentrate and retain information during their peak
learning years. Additionally, the American Journal of Psychiatry
published a study in 2001 presenting evidence that marijuana abusers
are four times more likely to report symptoms of depression and have
more suicidal thoughts than those who never used the drug.

Furthermore, numerous studies recently published by European
researchers have shown a strong correlation between marijuana use and
schizophrenia. Drug testing is an appropriate public health response,
just as testing for tuberculosis in schools was a way of identifying
and then limiting a public health epidemic.

There are those who represent student drug testing as a tool of "Big
Brother" and a violation of personal privacy. Upon examination, these
concerns have turned out to be largely unfounded and often
exaggerated. The Supreme Court, in fact, carefully weighed the privacy
issue, ultimately determining that a school's interest in protecting
children from the influence of drugs outweighs their expectation of
privacy. The court further mandated that the results of the tests be
kept confidential -- shared only with the parents of the student, in
order to help refer the student into the appropriate level of
counseling or treatment, not punishment.

To dwell on possible problems with drug testing is to overlook the
potential benefits, which are enormous. Already, drug testing has
proven remarkably effective at reducing drug use in schools and
businesses throughout the county. As a deterrent, few methods work
better or deliver clearer results. Drug testing of airline pilots and
school bus drivers has made our skies and roadways much safer for
travel. And since the U.S. military began testing in the early 1980s,
drug use among servicemen and -women has plunged from 27 percent to
less than 2 percent.

Experience has taught us that people at the local level often know
best how to deal with drug problems in their own communities. But to
combat the threat, they need good information and the best resources
available. These summits will provide parents, school administrators,
teachers and mentors with the knowledge to consider drug testing as
part of an overall strategy to fight drug use.