SO WHERE'S THE BENEFIT?

Every day, thousands of teen-agers pack up their books and walk through the
doors of their high school, completely unaware that they were just forced
to choose between getting an education or defending their Fourth Amendment
rights.

The War on Drugs in our schools seems to have assumed a dangerous
precedent: It's OK to ignore the Constitution when safety is concerned. In
fact, this seems to be standard as more and more cases infringe on the
rights of students for their "protection." Certainly, this isn't a message
to teach to future citizens.

In the most recent example of disregard for students' rights , the Supreme
Court voted that required drug testing for students involved in
extra-curricular activities is not a violation of their Fourth Amendment
rights because students "volunteer" to give up these rights upon signing
up. Unfortunately, these and other strong-arm tactics are forcing students
to submit to 4th Amendment violations or sacrifice a better education. Not
quite what they're teaching us in civics, huh?

Many school administrators and drug prevention agencies see these
violations as a "necessary evil" for stopping drug use. In fact, the
Supreme Court used this justification to help determine their ruling. When
it comes to students, apparently it's acceptable to interpret the greater
good instead of the Constitution.

But not only do these new requirements infringe on our rights, here's the
kicker: They are also counterproductive and ineffective.

Both the American Academy of Pediatrics and Students For Sensible Drug
Policy are against drug testing since it "can't reduce the harms caused by
drug and alcohol use." Not to mention the fact that "after-school programs
are the best way to keep kids off drugs and off the street" says the
National Director of Students for Sensible Drug Policy. In fact, federal
guidelines for the "Safe and Drug Free Schools" program encourages
administrators to emphasize extra-curricular activities, which are most
likely to be effective in deterring drug use among high-risk youth.

Unfortunately, with the implementation of school drug testing, high-risk
students will now be discouraged away from positive activities. In effect,
drug testing will alienate those students who need extra-curricular
activities the most, and will test the students who aren't doing drugs. So
where's the benefit?

There doesn't seem to be one. Drug testing is expensive (about $15 per
student) and gives false positives quite often. Even worse, traces of
marijuana can be detected longer than other, harder drugs, giving students
an incentive to switch to cocaine, speed, or heroin. Administrators who
support the ruling say it will keep drug users away from the school. But
shouldn't administrators be focused on keeping drug users away from drugs?
Not in this era of style over substance where cutting down on drug use
seems to have taken a backseat to "looking tough on drugs."

Sadly, this isn't the only case in which the rights of students have been
overlooked. Keeping up with the "war" mentality, schools are searching
lockers, scavenging belongings and calling in the dogs. Once again, the
courts have ruled out the Fourth Amendment, requiring that administrators
need only "reasonable cause" to search all students on campus. I guess I
missed that clause in the Constitution.

But the simple fact is that adults, from parents to politicians, are more
concerned with appearances than results. Training for a drug dog in
Augusta, Ga., costs taxpayers $10,000 and another $20,900 for the Ford
Explorer outfitted for carrying him. Yet, no drugs turned up in the first
29 times the dog searched the schools, according to an article in the
Augusta Chronicle. In fact, a member of that very same police force quoted
statistics that cite drug dogs finding drugs once every 400 searches.

Most experts would agree that students who do bring drugs to school carry
it on their person, in their underclothes or the soles of their shoes.
Fortunately, the court has upheld that it is definitely unconstitutional to
search a student's person. I'm glad we can expect privacy in our underwear,
at least.

But it's looking like more rights to privacy might be slipping away for
students. After the high court ruling, some said that the justices seemed
amenable to drug testing for entire student bodies. Even more foreboding is
the fact that the Bush Justice Department declared that drug testing all
students - regardless of their extracurricular duties - would be
constitutional. In fact, the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy has begun distributing a guide supporting drug testing in schools.

Apparently, students give up Fourth Amendment rights by walking into the
very place where we are taught about the Constitution and the Revolutionary
War - the war in which many teen-agers fought for the very rights we're
being manipulated into giving up.