DRUG TESTING GOOD IDEA

I'm a junior at Merritt Island High School, and I'm concerned about many
student athletes who are affected by irresponsible drug use.

I read an article printed by Florida Today titled "Activist backs school
drug test." It discussed a plan that would not only give students
incentives not to use drugs, but would also offer students help if they had
already made the wrong choice to use drugs. In my opinion, this plan is a
great idea.

In the article, people who oppose this plan said it was an invasion of
privacy. Drug use is illegal. Privacy has nothing to do with that. Students
who use drugs pose a danger to themselves and to their class and teammates.

As a student athlete, I support this program. This plan would not only help
assure our safety, but would also make the athletic programs at our schools
better by ensuring that students are performing while completely healthy.

If I were selected to be tested, I'd have no worries. There are students,
unfortunately, who do use illegal drugs and who need this kind of wake up
call to get them straightened out. By randomly selecting student athletes
to complete a drug test, I think the number of users would be dramatically
reduced. The purpose of this program would not be to isolate drug users and
kick them out of school, but to lend a hand to help rehabilitate them.