DRUG EDUCATION

Regarding your editorial "Drug Testing In Schools Should Be Sensible" (Our
Opinion, March 22): Student involvement in extracurricular activities 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 marijuana smokers to switch to harder drugs in
order to avoid testing positive. Anyone capable of running a search on the
Internet can find out how to thwart a drug test. Drug testing profiteers do
not readily volunteer this information, for obvious reasons.

The most commonly abused drug 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, D.C.