DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS IS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE

Regarding "Searching children's bodies" (June 28, Editorial): Student
involvement in extracurricular activities has been proven to reduce drug
use. 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. Marijuana is the only drug that stays in the human body long
enough to make urinalysis a deterrent. A student who takes Ecstasy,
cocaine, or heroin on Friday night will test clean on Monday. 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

Washington

Program Officer, Drug Policy Alliance

In the Oklahoma case, 500 students were tested, yielding three positive
results. Was it really worth $12,500 (at $25 a student) to identify three
pot-smoking teenagers? What about the other 497 students, forced to perform
one of the most personal acts under observation by strangers? Is this a
positive experience for insecure adolescents?

David T. Wilkinson

Plymouth, Mass.