DRUG TESTS CAN BACKFIRE

Anyone who believes that drug testing is an effective way to discover
who is using drugs and to help keep schools drug free is mistaken.

First, drug tests are most effective on the least harmful drugs;
marijuana, for example, can be detected for up to a month after use.
However, heroine, cocaine, crack, methamphetamine, LSD, ecstasy and
others can be detected only if the test is administered within 72
hours of use. Shoot up Friday, test clean on Monday.

Every action has a reaction, and those reactions are not always what
we want them to be. Under the pretext of protecting our children, we
may very well push them into using harder, more dangerous drugs.

Jim White

Oregon, Ohio

IF DRUG TESTS ARE NOT THE ANSWER, THEN WHAT IS?

A proposed expansion of random drug testing of kids engaged in
after-school activities (beyond athletics), as now being considered by
the U.S. Supreme Court, could favorably impact addictive drug use. The
fear of testing may help younger kids struggling with the normal
adjustment reaction to becoming teen-agers.

For example, with the looming possibility of being tested, youngsters
in middle schools making that first-time decision to use or not use
drugs would have some further support to say no to the powerful
influence of peer pressure, like that randomly located radar gun keeps
us all a little slower and safer when driving.

The possibility of being selected for a random drug test could serve
as a powerful aid to younger kids looking for support to resist the
temptation and fight the pressure of first-time use.

Some experts suggest we're losing the war against drugs and that
current educational efforts alone don't seem to be turning the tide.
Those opposing school-based testing citing Fourth Amendment violations
rarely seem to offer effective alternatives to combat this growing
dilemma. Testing too invasive? Discriminatory? What then?

Bill Yelverton Sr.

Conklin