DRUG EDUCATION ONLY WAY TO REDUCE ABUSE

Editor:

Darryl Mayfield's Aug. 9 column on the Supreme Court's latest drug war
exemption to the Constitution was right on target. Student involvement in
after-school activities has been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids
busy during the hours they are most likely to get into trouble. Forcing
students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite 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. Synthetic drugs are water-soluble and exit
the body quickly. A student who takes one of these drugs on Friday night
will likely test clean on Monday morning. If you think students don't know
this, think again. Anyone capable of running a search on the Internet can
find out how to thwart a drug test. Drug testing profiteers do not readily
volunteer this information, for obvious reasons.

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.

Robert Sharpe, Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.