SUPREME COURT EARNS FAILING GRADE

On June 27, the U.S. Supreme Court failed our children.

By finding that schools may drug-test all high school students involved in
extracurricular activities, the Supreme Court not only ignored the reasoned
opinions of doctors, social workers and teachers that school drug testing
is unlikely to accomplish its stated goal of reducing substance abuse among
students, but also seriously eroded the U.S. Constitution.

Now, more than ever, parents, teachers and school administrators need to
resist blanket drug testing and opt for programs that will help our young
people thrive.

Mandatory drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities
will not end drug abuse. But such testing is likely to deter student
participation in after-school programs -- the very programs that educators,
administrators and researchers have uniformly hailed as effective in
combating adolescent drug abuse.

That is why the American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Education
Association, both of whom were represented in a friend-of-the-court brief
by the Drug Policy Alliance, oppose this policy.

Most teenage drug use takes place between the hours of 3 and 6 p.m. --
precisely when most extracurricular activities are under way. The students
most likely to opt out of such activities will be those at the margins,
whose interest may be tentative or undeveloped or who feel they have
something to conceal.

Sadly, it is these students who have the most to gain from the benefits and
protections that extracurricular programs, such as chess club and choir,
offer. Schools should focus on making these programs more, not less accessible.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court decision is part of an alarming trend to
disregard the right to privacy and bodily integrity in the name of the war
on drugs. Indeed, with respect to drug testing, society appears ready to
create a "drug exception" to the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

For example, Michigan began drug testing all welfare applicants as a
condition for receiving benefits. (The policy is currently on hold after
being challenged.) And public hospitals are increasingly drug testing women
and their newborn babies and turning the results over to law enforcement
officers and child protective services -- with punitive rather than
rehabilitative consequences for the parents.

What's next? We must stop the willingness and ability of government to
demand our bodily fluids before we can participate in the most basic
necessities of life. The longer we wait, the less ability we will have to
protect our rights against governmental intrusions, not just drug testing.

It is heartening that most school districts, including those in communities
hardest hit by drugs, reject drug testing as a false and costly panacea.
Only about 3 percent of the 15,000 U.S. school districts currently
drug-test some of their students, typically athletes who engage in contact
sports.

Notwithstanding the Supreme Court's decision in the Earls case, we must
demand that schools establish and strengthen programs that nurture student
self-esteem and provide them with the life skills necessary to develop into
strong, independent thinking adults.

This decision should be seen as a wake-up call for parents and teachers
alike to actively oppose drug testing policies by our schools and develop
positive and creative drug education programs in their stead. Rather than
testing students, schools should act in the best interests of their
students and support programs that provide honest, science-based
information on drug use and abuse.

Suspicionless drug testing of students achieves none of these objectives,
leaving students more, not less vulnerable, to drug abuse.

Robin Levi works in the Office of Legal Affairs at the Oakland-based Drug
Policy Alliance. The Drug Policy Alliance represented the National
Educational Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and other public
health organizations in their friend-of-the-court brief for this case.