RANDOM DRUG TESTING NEEDED IN SCHOOLS

Editor:

The state Department of Education's recent "Report on Violence, Vandalism
and Substance Abuse in New Jersey's Schools" shows that substance abuse
incidents in our schools are up 20 percent. The U.S. Supreme Court and the
New Jersey courts will soon decide cases on whether a school's interest in
deterring students from using drugs by the use of random drug testing
outweighs the privacy interest of the students. Our hope is that the courts
will uphold random drug testing of students. Drug testing deters drug use.

When drugs invade a school, threatening the safety of students and
disturbing the orderly learning environment, the school's interest in
ridding the school of drugs outweighs the privacy interests of students.
The school years are a critical passage in a young person's life. While in
school, children face the challenge of learning in the academic, social,
physical, and emotional realms. When drugs infect a school it cripples the
learning process. Children become casualties. The physical and
psychological effects of drug and alcohol use can cause lifelong and
profound losses. Substance use decreases a child's chances of graduation
and academic success.

Researchers continually report statistics demonstrating that student drug
and alcohol use is at a dangerous level. For example, the National Center
on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University reports that
for the last six years school children have listed drugs as the most
important problem they face.

A 1997 CASA survey revealed that high school students see more drug deals
at school than in their neighborhoods. In the survey, 76 percent of high
school students claim that drugs are kept, used or sold on school grounds.
In addition, 29 percent of high school students claim that a student in
their school died from a drug or alcohol-related incident in the past year.

CASA also reports that substance abuse adds at least $41 billion to the
costs of elementary and secondary education in terms of special education,
teacher turnover, truancy, property damage, injury counseling, and other costs.

According to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association,
students who use drugs are more likely to bring guns and knives to school
leading to school violence. According to state report, assaults are up 30
percent with school staff as victims in 19 percent of the cases.

Schools must be allowed to use all reasonable means to combat drugs and
alcohol use if education is to be successful and our schools are to be
safe. Drug testing deters drug use and gives students a reason to say "no"
when their peers ask them to use drugs.

Random drug testing is intended to give schools a stronger weapon to get
drugs out of schools. School drug testing programs are a proven low-cost
method to win the fight for our children's future. Consider the results of
random drug testing of athletes at Hunterdon Central Regional High School
in Flemington. After two years of testing they experienced a decline in 20
of 28 categories of drug use in the whole student population.

Our nation uses random drug testing on military personnel and
transportation workers to insure national security and safe travel. Our
interests in student safety, health and educational quality are equally
compelling. We must be willing to use the same tools to defend our
children. They deserve no less.

David G. Evans, Esq.

Executive Director, Drug Free Schools Coalition