HIGH SCHOOL DRUG USE WARRANTS EDUCATION, NOT RANDOM TESTING

It is hard to argue that drugs are not a problem in our nation's high schools.

It was a problem when our parents were in high school, it was a problem
when we were in high school, and it will still likely be a problem when our
children are in high school.

Solutions such as the D.A.R.E. program and in-school police liaison
officers have been met with mixed reviews and varying results, forcing
certain school districts to take extreme measures in their campaigns
against drugs.

The Supreme Court is currently debating the implications of upholding a
program in a rural Oklahoma school district that requires students to pass
a drug test in order to participate in any extracurricular activity,
including choir, band, and even the Future Farmers of America.

Schools across the nation are watching this case closely, as it will set
precedents for school-sanctioned drug tests.

In many parts of the country, the issue of school drug testing has been
controversial ever since the Supreme Court's 1995 Vernonia School District
v. Acton decision that drug-testing student athletes is constitutional.

According to the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research,
during the past three years, approximately 5 percent of schools nationwide
performed drug tests on student athletes, and approximately 2 percent of
schools nationwide tested students involved in other extracurricular
activities.

Though action against drug problems in high schools is needed, random or
schoolwide drug tests are not the solution to the problem.

The main argument supporting random or schoolwide drug tests is that they
serve as a deterrent for drug use. Students won't use drugs if they know
that by doing so they will not be able to participate in activities.

This main argument is the hardest to prove. Forcing students to take drug
tests will deter students -- but not from drugs. It will deter students
from participating in activities such as band and soccer, which are known
to keep students away from drugs.

If students can't be involved in extracurricular activities, they will have
too much free time on their hands, leading to similar or more severe troubles.

At the same time, it is common knowledge that drug tests are avoidable, or
if not avoidable, then at least passable. An Internet search will give a
student more than a world of information, ranging from helpful hints to
supplemental herbal masks to manufactured, strap-on, substitute genitals
including directions for their use.

Drug use is a problem in schools. And as long as drugs are available to
students, this problem will continue.

But random or schoolwide drug tests are not the way to combat this problem.
The Oklahoma Board of Education involved in the case and the countless
school boards watching from the wings should be spending more time figuring
out how to more effectively educate teens about the consequences of drug
use than arguing about matters that will ultimately have little effect.