TESTING WORKS

Just say no."

"This is your brain on drugs."

"Teens are the anti-drug."

Billions of dollars have been spent over the years on catchy phrases
in advertising campaigns designed to warn teenagers about the dangers
of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other illegal addictive substances.

But some question whether these slogans really help.

A study, released in December by the University of Michigan and
National Institute on Drug Abuse, found illegal drug use declined
slightly from 2005 to 2006 among eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders
surveyed at more than 400 schools nationwide. It was a continuation
of a trend that began in the mid-'90s, the study said.

However, when officials at one New Orleans school - De La Salle High
School - discovered that 8 percent of the student body tested
positive for drug use, administrators realized that what they'd been
doing for almost a decade played a big role in the decrease at that school.

Nine years ago, De La Salle began random drug testing its students,
but that practice was discontinued after Hurricane Katrina. When the
practice was resumed, drug use among those students was the highest
since testing began.

Obviously, a lot of students decided to take advantage of the
discontinuation of testing.

Despite this apparent successful way of dealing with the teen drug
issue, some still question whether we should be conducting the tests at all.

For example, the American Civil Liberties Union considers testing
unconstitutional, an unproven deterrent and a waste of federal money
that could be better spent on other resources.

But here's a perfect illustration of how testing can prevent drug use
among young people.

It's hard to say that testing didn't work in De La Salle.

We believe the program should continue. To be sure, it has more overt
success stories than a million-dollar ad campaign that says teens are
"above the influence."