DRUG TESTING

Adopt The Policy

Drugs can be found throughout society. They are in businesses, homes,
government and schools. The use of drugs has a major drain on this country.
Efforts have been made and continue to be made by law- enforcement
officials at the local, state and national levels, but the drugs remain.
Public service campaigns, awareness programs and educational presentations
are on-going in an effort to keep people away from the devastation of drugs.

It hasn't worked. Young people are exposed to drugs. Not just when they are
out on the town or when someone whispers to them from an alley. They are
exposed at school. In the halls, restrooms, cafeteria and everywhere else.

The Conway School District's Board of Education should adopt the proposed
drug-testing policy. The policy would require all students in grades 7
through 12 who participate in extracurricular activities to submit to the
possibility of random testing.

Drug testing students will not remove drugs from the schools any more than
a no-tolerance policy has eliminated all fights and violence, but that's no
reason not to institute the test.

Critics maintain the tests will miss students not in extracurricular
activities and they are the ones who are more likely to do drugs. Others
say it is the parents' responsibility to address this issue. If parents
have concerns about their child, the policy allows them to include the
student in the testing pool even if he is not in extracurricular
activities. For parents who are concerned, who want to be involved in their
children's lives, this option is available.

What the policy offers students is an excuse to say no. Peer pressure is
tremendous on young people, and just having enough common sense that you
don't want to do drugs may not be a strong enough stance for some to take.
Being able to say they don't want to risk their extracurricular activities
is another reason to reject the drugs being offered to them.

To think no students in extracurricular activities have at least
experimented with drugs is being naive. A survey at Conway High School-West
in the 1999-2000 school year showed more than 40 percent of the juniors and
seniors had used drugs, even if only occasionally, and 20.6 percent of the
juniors and 22.3 percent of the seniors would get drunk or use drugs nearly
every weekend or more frequently. Does this mean 40 percent of the parents
don't want the responsibility for their children? Of course not. It means
parents don't always know what their kids are doing. This drug-testing
policy will allow them another way, with the school's help, to keep an eye
on them.

These particular students may be gone from Conway schools now, but the
drugs are not. Drug testing will not solve everything, but if it helps any
student avoid the problem it is worthwhile. Sheriff Marty Montgomery
pointed out in a Log Cabin Democrat article last year that of all the
inmates at the Faulkner County Detention Center (and remember that place is
always overcrowded so we're talking about 200 people), there was only one
who did not have drugs as a factor in his or her incarceration. Whether is
was an actual drug offense, stealing to support a drug habit, violence
committed while under the influence of drugs or some other drug-related
crime, our jails and prisons are full because of drugs -- and these
inmates, at some point in their lives, were students.

Something needs to be done about drugs now. It is not necessary to have
complete statistical analysis of every conceivable situation to go forward
with testing. Nor is it mandatory to test for every drug imaginable.
Medical researchers do not hold back on improvements in cancer treatment
just because they have not determined how to cure all aspects of the
disease. Drug testing will not eliminate drugs from schools, but it is a
step that the district needs to take.

Education from parents, schools, community groups or whoever for young
people, especially elementary students, is still important to make them
aware that drugs bring nothing but problems and heartaches. There are no
positives. Building a strong mind-set at an early age will make it easier
for children to resist drugs. Drug testing at a slightly older age gives
them another reason.