DO STUDENT DRUG TESTS WORK?

Adults have tried a lot of different methods to discourage teenagers from
using drugs. One of the more popular ideas of recent years is random drug
testing of public school students involved in sports or extracurricular
activities. Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a constitutional
challenge of such testing, with the majority of the justices calling it "a
reasonably effective means of addressing the school district's legitimate
concerns in preventing, deterring and detecting drug use."

But is it? Intuition suggests that if students fear being caught using
illicit drugs, testing would be a deterrent. Little research has been done,
though, to support that assumption. And a new study suggests that the
prospect of a urinalysis on Monday morning doesn't necessarily determine
what teens do on Saturday night.

The survey, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and
published in the Journal of School Health, found that this type of program,
though on the rise, is still fairly rare. Only about 5 percent of schools
polled test student athletes, and only about 3 percent test kids involved
in extracurricular activities. About 14 percent, by contrast, conduct
testing of students for cause--when their behavior provides grounds for
suspicion. In neither regimen, however, did the study find any connection
between testing and drug use.

Why would that be? University of Michigan social psychologist Lloyd
Johnston, one of the authors, says that as testing becomes more common,
students may find ways to beat the tests. In addition, he says, some
teenagers may be so offended by the intrusiveness of the test, and the idea
of having to prove their innocence, that they are less inclined to heed
their elders' advice against using drugs. "It may give rise to resistance
even among kids who aren't part of the drug culture," he says.

Another possible explanation is that schools with severe drug problems may
be more likely to adopt testing in the first place. Drug tests might lower
drug use to the same level as the average school, but that improvement
wouldn't show up in this survey.

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy takes issue with the
report, arguing that it wasn't sufficiently focused on random drug testing
that might have the most reliable deterrent effect. Certainly no one should
place too much significance on this study, which like any survey may prove
erroneous. And more research is needed before anyone can have great
confidence in the relationship between testing and drug use.

But it's also worth noting that drug use among high school students has
been stable or declining in recent years--even though very few schools do
widespread testing. What that suggests is that kids are learning a healthy
appreciation of the hazards of drug use. In the end, that may be the best
possible preventive.