DRUG TESTING ATHLETES HAS TOO MANY DRAWBACKS

The Fayette County Board of Education would be wise to educate itself on
the limitations of student drug testing before imposing an invasive policy
on Tates Creek High School students.

Student involvement in extracurricular activities such as sports has been
shown to reduce drug use. Forcing students to undergo degrading tests as a
prerequisite will only discourage extracurricular activity. Drug tests may
also compel users 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 drugs like meth and OxyContin are water-soluble and exit the
human body within a few days. The younger generation is well aware of these
limitations. Anyone capable of running a search on the Internet can find
out how to thwart a drug test.

Why is this relevant?

Because the growing use of Ecstasy is, in part, a result of drug testing. A
student who takes Ecstasy on Friday night will likely test clean on Monday
morning. Ironically, the least dangerous recreational drug (marijuana) is
the only one whose use is discouraged by testing.

Drug-testing profiteers do not readily volunteer this information, for
obvious reasons.

Finally, I would point out that the most commonly abused drug and the one
most often associated with violent behavior is almost impossible to detect
with urinalysis. That drug is alcohol, and it takes far more student lives
every year than all other drugs combined.

Rather than waste scarce resources on counterproductive drug tests, schools
would be wise to invest in reality-based drug education. Alcohol may be
legal, but it's still America's No. 1 drug problem.

Robert Sharpe is program officer for The Lindesmith Center-Drug Policy
Foundation in Washington, D.C.