DRUG TESTING MISSES THE MARK

In response to the article on parish schools drug testing students that
participate in extracurricular activities, the most comprehensive test of
its kind has just been completed by the University of Michigan. Briefly,
"The new federally financed study of 76,000 students nationwide, by far the
largest to date, found that drug use is just as common in schools with
testing as in those without it.'

The Michigan study was financed through grants from the National Institute
on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, as well as the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which supports drug testing in schools.

Student involvement in after-school activities has been shown to reduce
drug use. They keep kids busy during hours they are most likely to get into
trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests will only
discourage participation in extracurricular activities.

Drug testing may also compel users of relatively harmless marijuana to
switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. Despite a short-lived
high, marijuana is the only drug that stays in the human body long enough
to make urinalysis a deterrent. Marijuana's organic metabolites are
fat-soluble and can linger for days.

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.

Leo Babinger

Prairieville