DRUG RULING: TESTING A GOOD ATTEMPT TO ENCOURAGE NON-USE

I'm glad to hear the discussion about the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on
drug testing students who participate in extracurricular activities. As a
school counselor in the Coeur d'Alene School District, my opinions on the
matter have gone back and forth until the past few years when I began to
take a closer look at the drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention research
from District 271.

Since 1989, substance use has gone down in every area with the students in
our local secondary schools. With support from the Department of
Education's Safe and Drug Free School funds, we have been able to identify
use patterns at various grade levels and we have designed and implemented a
variety of prevention programs. Even though the results of our research
shows a steady decline in use, we still have a long way to go.

One school-based prevention program that has shown positive results is
Idaho Drug Free Youth. This program began about 10 years ago when students
who were drug and alcohol free noticed that the students who used
substances received more attention for using than non-users did for being
drug-free. The only way these students believed they could prove that they
were substance free was to take a drug test. In the past 10 years, 200
businesses in Idaho have rewarded thousands of students with discount cards
to reward drug-free students for making healthy choices to be drug-free.

Students already sign an agreement to be substance free during the time
they participate in their extracurricular activities, but have not been
required to be tested. With the new ruling, students can now validate their
healthy and safe choice to be drug-free by consenting to take a drug test.

Together the research and the drug-free students agree that drug testing is
a positive attempt to encourage non-use and a tangible way to measure the
effectiveness of all the other prevention programs.

GREG JOHNSON

School District 271