UNFAIR AND UNRELIABLE

I would like to address the policy of drug testing of student
athletes at Astoria High School. I think that this is an absurd
practice that should be stopped for the following reasons:

The first reason is that forcing students to take a drug test is a
violation of their constitutional rights. The fifth amendment
protects all citizens from self-incrimination, and forcing a student
to participate in a drug test is just like forcing someone to
answer a question in court.

The second reason I do not support drug testing of student athletes
is that it diminishes the level of trust between students; it is
basically telling students we do not trust them. I think that it is
important to build trust with students and it is unfair to expect
students to trust educators if the educators do not trust them.

The third reason I do not support drug testing of student athletes
is the possibility of false positives. A false positive occurs when
the test shows the presence of a drug even though the test taker did
not use that drug. Physicians have reported false
positives occurring as often as 50 percent of the time and
from something as simple as eating a poppy-seed muffin.

For these reasons I think that drug testing of students is
unconstitutional, unfair and unreliable.

Craig Lee

Portland