EFFECTIVE POLICY?

To the editor: Last week's article about Genoa's drug testing program
left out any substance on the policy itself - such as, is drug testing
athletes really effective? Is it cost effective? Are there any drawbacks?

Sure, many coaches and parents believe it is a useful tool, they
follow the simple logic that if a child is using drugs a test will
catch them and allow for some form of intervention, and while it's
true that some kids are caught with drug testing, the fact of the
matter is those kids who use drugs are more likely to turn to hard
drugs which are only detectable for a few days at best, and even then,
only if used in significant quantities.

Researchers, on a grant from National Institute on Drug Abuse, found
that school drug testing has "no impact on student drug use."
According to the researchers, "...drug testing of any kind and drug
testing for cause and suspicion were not significant predictors for
use of other illicit drugs among students..."

"Within the high school sub-samples, use of illicit drugs among high
school male athletes and current marijuana users was not significantly
different based on drug testing at the school. Even after controlling
for student demographic characteristics, drug testing was not a
significant predictor for other illicit drug use in any of the samples."

The mere existence of a drug testing program is oft touted as a means
of dissuasion, studies have shown that drug use rates remain unchanged
whether or not drug testing policies are in place. Some noted
differences are that the use of hard drugs tends to be slightly higher
where testing policies are in place, and the overall number of
students participating in athletic programs has declined.

As parents we need to be vigilant where drug use is concerned, but we
also need to be penny wise in these times of financial crisis for many
school districts, we need to re-examine the effectiveness of our
programs and stick to those that show definite results. Drug testing
programs are of those that have no positive impact, cost too much,
humiliates our children and violates the trust that we must foster and
share with them.

Drug testing policies may have good intentions, it might make us feel
safe, or make us feel good that we're doing "something" but the
reality is that we are doing far more harm than good with drug testing
programs.

Jim White

Oregon