DRUG TESTING MAY HAVE UNINTENDED OUTCOMES

Dear Editor,

Student involvement in after-school activities like sports has been shown
to reduce drug use. They 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 may also 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. Marijuana's
organic metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger for days. Synthetic
drugs are water-soluble and 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. Instead of wasting money on
counterproductive drug tests, schools should invest in reality-based drug
education.

Robert Sharpe, MPA

Policy Analyst

Common Sense for Drug Policy