DRUG TESTS A WASTE

Re "High court's drug ruling won't affect local schools," June 28: Escambia
County School Superintendent Jim Paul and Santa Rosa County Superintendent
John Rogers have good reason to question the value of student drug testing.
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. 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 ecstasy, cocaine or heroin Friday night will likely test clean Monday
morning. 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: alcohol.
Instead of wasting money on counterproductive drug tests, schools should
invest in reality-based drug education.

Robert Sharpe, Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance, www.drugpolicy.org,
Washington, D.C.