USE SENSE ON DRUGS

The Feb. 9 editorial was right on target. Student involvement in
after-school activities 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 users of relatively harmless marijuana to
switch to harder synthetic drugs to avoid testing positive. Despite a
short-lived high, organic marijuana is the only illegal drug that stays in
the human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent. 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, Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy, Washington, D.C.