SCHOOLS SHOULD INVEST IN REAL DRUG EDUCATION

Your July 12 editorial on the Supreme Court's latest drug war exemption to
the Constitution was right on target. Student involvement in
extracurricular activities like sports 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 such 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. Marijuana's organic metabolites are
fat-soluble and can linger for days.

Synthetic drugs are water-soluble and exit the body quickly. A student who
takes ecstasy, meth, cocaine or heroin 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

Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance

Washington, D.C.