BE SKEPTICAL OF DRUG TESTING

Anne Lasowski and her fellow parents are right to be skeptical of the
Conway School District's proposal for drug testing students in
extracurricular activities.

As the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health
Association noted in their recent U.S. Supreme Court briefs,
extracurricular activities help protect young people from drug abuse. If a
student is experimenting with drugs, he or she should be encouraged to join
the band, debate team or drama program; the last thing schools should do is
bar such students from constructive activities that can literally save
their lives.

Another major concern is that detectable traces of marijuana -- not enough
to produce intoxication but enough to trigger a positive test -- can linger
in the body for 30 days, while drugs like heroin, cocaine and
methamphetamine are cleared so quickly that tests rarely pick them up.

So testing gives students a powerful incentive to switch from marijuana to
drugs that are far more addictive and lethal.

Parents who want to protect their children should "just say no" to random
drug testing.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: Bruce Mirken is director of communications for the
Marijuana Policy Project.)