DRUG EDUCATION

Re: "School board should drop drug-testing plan," (editorial, Dec. 28).
Your editorial was on target. Student involvement in after-school
activities such as sports has been shown to reduce drug use. These
activities keep kids busy during the hours they are most likely to get into
trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a
prerequisite will only discourage participation in extracurricular
activities. Drug testing also may compel marijuana users to switch to
harder drugs to avoid testing positive.

Despite a short-lived high, marijuana is the only illegal drug that stays
in the human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent. Synthetic
drugs exit the body quickly. A student who takes methamphetamine, ecstasy
or heroin on Friday night will likely test clean on Monday morning. If you
think students don't know this, think again.

Anyone capable of running an Internet search can find out how to thwart a
drug test. The most commonly abused drug and the one most closely
associated with violent behavior is almost impossible to detect with
urinalysis. That drug is alcohol, and it takes far more student lives every
year than all illegal drugs combined.

ROBERT SHARPE

Common Sense for Drug Policy

Washington, D.C.