VOLUNTARY STUDENT DRUG TESTS: BAD IDEA

Random student drug testing, voluntary or otherwise, is a horrible
waste of time, effort, and money. School boards across the nation
have been realizing this as of late, for various reasons.

Some object to such blatant invasions of privacy. Others believe that
it creates a threatening environment - hardly something our schools
need more of. Yet others look at the facts, the numbers, and the
consequences of their policy, and see that it simply doesn't stop
students from experimenting with drugs. It is a failed policy.

Random drug testing is not the answer. Drug education is the real
solution to minimizing student drug abuse, and it must be real and
based in fact. This is not possible until a serious change in U.S.
drug laws is made. When the Federal government still believes that
marijuana has no medically accepted value; and ignores a report
supporting that position by the Institute of Medicine, a Federal
agency, you know that there is a serious problem in the way our
country discusses drug issues. Truthful, earnest discussion about
drugs must be made on a national level before drug issues in schools
can be seriously addressed.

Derek Rosenzweig

Co-Chairman, PhillyNORML

Philadelphia