DRUG TESTING IS LIMITED

In "Drug policy passes the test", Art Morris makes two common
mistakes:

1) He implies that drug tests identify all sorts of drugs that are illegal
for youngsters to take, including alcohol, tobacco, heroin, cocaine,
methamphetamines, and marijuana. In fact the only drug used over the weekend
that tests would likely detect during the school week is marijuana.
According to reports from the American Medical Association and the federal
Bureau of Justice: Amphetamine / Methamphetamine remains detectable for up
to 48 hours. Cocaine metabolites can remain detectable for 2-3 days.
Opiates (heroin) can remain detectable for up to 48 hours. Cannabinoid
metabolite can remain detectable for up to 27th days for daily users; even a
single use of cannabis (marijuana) can remain detectable for up to 3 days.
(http://www.drugwarfacts.org/drugtest.htm) Certainly it is not our intention
to induce kids to sniff dangerous heroin rather than sample a relatively
innocuous joint!

2) He confuses the benefits of prosecution for crimes against others
with the negative results of prosecution for personal use. I too had a
young friend who was able to break away from drug addiction after
being jailed, but the sentence was for passing bad checks.

The federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
estimates that 91.1 million Americans (41.7% of the US population age
12 or over) have used an illicit drug at least once.
(http://www.drugwarfacts.org/druguse.htm) Obviously only a modest
portion continue to use drugs beyond experimentation and, of those
repeaters, only a tiny fraction encounter a serious problem. Do we
want to randomly trap kids engaging in common experimentation and thus
disrupt their families and potentially mar their lives?

Let us as teachers, coaches and parents monitor the performance of
youngsters in school, in extra-curricular activities and at home and
then, if we have reason for concern, let parents take their kid for a
Monday morning drug test at the office of the family doctor.

Drug testing without signs of any corresponding problem is likely to
do far more damage to youngsters and their family than good. First
do no harm!

Robert E. Field, Co-Chair, Common Sense for Drug Policy,
Lancaster