EXPERIENCE, RESEARCH SHOW TESTING DOESN'T WORK

Schoolwide drug testing is unlikely to reduce adolescent drug use, and
may even put youths at greater risk than prevention programs that are
less controversial, less invasive and less expensive.

Ironically, drug testing does deter students, especially those most at
risk for using drugs, from participating in extracurricular activities
and athletics -- some of the most important tools we have to keep kids
off the streets and off drugs.

Educators, substance abuse professionals and parents know that from 3
p.m. to 6 p.m., just after school lets out, students are most at risk
for using alcohol and drugs. It is crucial that schools not only offer
a variety of after-school activities for students, but encourage
students to participate.

Student drug testing, however, proposed by a handful of school
districts and upheld last year by the Supreme Court, erects an
unnecessary barrier to student participation in extracurriculars and
athletics. Students who are most at risk for using drugs are the very
students who will be least likely to subject themselves to drug tests
so they can participate in these programs.

For these and other practical reasons, the American Academy of
Pediatrics, the nation's leading organization devoted to children's
health and safety, opposed mandatory student drug testing in a
friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court last year. Joining
the pediatricians was the National Education Association and other
leading groups devoted to child welfare. (The full legal brief filed
by AAP and NEA can be found at www.drugtestingfails.org.)

Many school boards and school board members across the country also
oppose student drug testing. The Guymon Public School District in
Oklahoma, for example, abandoned their student drug testing program
after they found that it simply did not work.

Scot Dahl, vice president of the Guymon School District's school
board, told the Amarillo Globe-News: "Our reason was, how many kids
are not going out to extracurricular activities because they're
afraid of being tested? If they're not in school, they'd be out on
the streets. If we could pull more kids in extracurricular activities
where there's a little more supervision, then they wouldn't be on the
streets where they can pick up drug habits."

Parents demand input

Most educators reject drug testing of students in favor of investing
in meaningful and engaging extracurricular activities.

Parents, too, are deeply skeptical about having their children
drug-tested at school. Many believe that requiring school officials to
administer drug tests usurps parents' important role in preventing
drug abuse.

When the Dublin, Ohio, school district abandoned its drug testing
program in favor of hiring a counselor for the students, parent
Thalia Johannsen, whose three sons underwent 10 drug tests during the
previous two years, told The Columbus Dispatch: "We [parents] are the
ones who are responsible for our children, and we need to be part of
the solution."

Johannsen applauded her school board's decision to stop drug testing
because she had witnessed firsthand the detrimental effects of such
testing.

As the parent of a teenager, I agree, and deplore that draconian
policies such as drug testing are so readily implemented without
knowing if they work.

Study: not a deterrent

Scientific data supports the experience of educators, health
professionals and parents. In April 2003, the most comprehensive study
to date of student drug testing was published in the Journal of School
Health. This federally funded study of 76,000 high school students
concluded that student drug testing does not deter student drug use.
The study found no statistical difference in drug use rates among
schools that had drug testing policies and those that did not.

Student drug testing is not a sound drug prevention strategy. Even
worse, it may be counterproductive to young people's health.

But what, then, can we do to prevent destructive adolescent drug use?
Several positive steps will help:

* Students are least likely to use drugs if they have trusting
relationships with adults, peers and others they can turn to with
questions about drug use. Schools should encourage students to
participate in activities that hold the most promise for developing
those relationships.

* Teachers and other adults should learn how to

identify drug and alcohol use; once they are able to do that, they
should engage students about their drug use in a non-confrontational
fashion.

* School officials need to distinguish between student drug use that
is experimental and drug use that is "chaotic," and must address these
different situations using tools and resources tailored to individual
student needs. Individuals who experiment with drugs usually only use
them once or twice. Individuals who are "chaotic" drug users are
usually compulsive or obsessive, and their lives are narrowly focused
on drugs, often with a great deal of loss in other areas of their life.

* Schools should offer in-school drug and alcohol counseling for
students who have been identified as problematic users.

* Finally, school officials should develop honest, science-based drug
education programs that put the safety of students first. This kind of
approach recognizes that teenagers experiment with drugs, and that it
is important to provide them with credible information about drug use.
It also recognizes that abstinence-only curricula, such as DARE, have
been shown not to work. (For more information, see:
www.safety1st.org.)

Schools across the country should not hesitate to "just say no" to
student drug testing and say "yes" to proven -- and less costly --
programs that work.