DRUG TESTING DOES MORE HARM

Editor,

School drug testing of student athletes may do more harm than good. Student
involvement in extracurricular activities like sports has been shown to
reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours they are most prone
to getting into trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading drug tests
as a prerequisite will only discourage such activities.

Drug testing may also compel smokers of relatively harmless marijuana to
switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. Despite a short-lived
high, marijuana is the only drug that stays in the human body long enough
to make urinalysis a deterrent. Marijuana's organic metabolites are
fat-soluble and can linger for weeks.

Synthetic drugs are water-soluble and exit the body quickly. A student who
takes ecstasy, cocaine or meth on Friday night will likely test clean on
Monday morning.

If you think students don't know this, think again. Anyone capable of
running a search on the Internet can find out how to thwart a drug test.
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 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, M.P.A.

Program Officer - Drug Policy Alliance, Washington, D.C.