DRUG TESTING BAD FOR HEALTH

Dear Editor:

I respectfully disagree with your Mar. 25 editorial. The U.S. Supreme
Court will review an Oklahoma school district's drug testing policy
on Constitutional grounds, but there are compelling health reasons to
oppose the invasive policy. Student involvement in extracurricular
activities has been shown to reduce drug use. 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 hard drugs are water-soluble and exit the body
quickly. A student who takes ecstasy, OxyContin, 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

http://www.drugpolicy.org