SALEM DRUG PLAN WILL BACKFIRE

SALEM SCHOOL Superintendent Herbert Levine seems to think that random
drug testing will give students an excuse to say no to drugs ("Salem
schools chief proposes random drug tests for some students" (Page B5,
Jan. 13). But drug testing students who want to participate in
after-school activities will simply give at-risk students a reason to
say no to joining the activities in the first place.

School officials should welcome these students into the positive
environments offered by these programs, especially during the hours
between the end of the school day and the time their parents come home
from work.

Instead, the plan will simply push these students toward the streets,
where they will be more likely to get in trouble with drugs.

Tom Angell,

Communications director,

Students for Sensible Drug Policy,

Washington, D.C.