Index -- Special on Opiate Use (Salem News) --

http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05/n042/a05.html

SALEM CONSIDERS RANDOM DRUG TESTING OF STUDENTS

SALEM - In the next few weeks, schools Superintendent Herbert Levine will
form a task force to explore how to implement random drug testing of
student athletes and others who take part in extracurricular activities,
even if it violates students' privacy.

Levine is not certain if the tests would be limited to high school
students, or if middle school students would be involved as well. There
also are some legal questions regarding whether it is possible to test
students who don't play sports or participate in clubs.

But with the region engulfed in an epidemic of heroin and prescription drug
abuse, Levine said it is time to see if Salem is ready for school drug
testing. "We can't just sit back any longer and expect this thing is going
to go away, because it doesn't," he said.

Levine expects that some people will accuse him of trampling on civil
liberties. But after dealing with his own 20-year-old son's addiction
to OxyContin, the superintendent said he is committed to preventing other
young people from getting caught up in the area's growing opiate epidemic,
as well as helping those already in trouble.

"After going through the experience I went through as a father, and being
in the position I am as a superintendent, I think we have to change the way
we think and go about the business of treating drug addition and preventing
it among our youth," Levine said.

Levine is eager to see how parents and students react to the proposal. He
is not looking to send a message that he does not trust students, he said.
But if the threat of a test will stop a young athlete from trying the
potentially deadly drugs, then that's a step Levine is willing to take.
"There may be some people that come out of the woodwork and say I am
picking on athletes or the band, and I am violating the rights of
students," he said. "And you know what? I don't care.

"Let them be angry at me. Let them be angry at the school system. Let them
be upset, let them moan and complain. But let them live." When told of the
proposal, Jim Fleming, an attorney and the vice chairman of the School
Committee, said he would probably agree to it, but he wants to take a look
at the legalities involved.

Fleming considers himself on the left of the political spectrum when it
comes to civil rights, he said, but the idea may make sense if Salem has a
drug problem. Calls to the American Civil Liberties Union, which generally
is opposed to random drug testing in schools, were not returned yesterday.
Heidi Perlman, the spokeswoman for the state Department of Education, said
there are no state laws that pertain to school drug testing. Typically, the
department advises school districts to follow established case law. In June
2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was permissible to drug test
middle and high school students participating in extracurricular activities.

"We find that testing students who participate in extracurricular
activities is a reasonably effective means of addressing the school
district's legitimate concerns of preventing, deterring and detecting drug
use," wrote Justice Clarence Thomas.

Several Massachusetts schools already have random drug testing for athletes
and those participating in clubs and other activities. Larry Luster, the
senior vice president of Calloway Drug Testing in Wakefield, said that
company's lab provides testing service for Assabet Valley Vocational
Technical High School in Marlborough and Northeast Vocational High School
in Wakefield.

Luster said that in the past few years there has been a renewed push by
school districts to implement drug testing. But in order for the programs
to work, the community must be behind the initiative, and there must be
well-established policies and guidelines that are clear to students. Here
in Salem, Levine said his initiative is in the very early stages. In the
next few weeks, he will form a task force of parents, administrators,
school committee members and others to determine if there is a willingness
in the community to adopt such a program.

Not too long ago, Levine said he asked his son Joel, a former varsity
baseball player in Peabody, if drug testing and the threat of being kicked
off the baseball team would have stopped his OxyContin use. Joel said no.
That response said a lot to Levine. He knew baseball had been one of the
most important things in Joel's life since he was 2 years old. But perhaps
if there had been such a severe consequence earlier in Joel's athletic
career, he might never have tried OxyContin in the first place. "If this
thing grabs you so badly that you are willing to give up everything you've
loved all your life, then we have to do something," Levine said.
"We've got to do more."