Steps toward more drug testing in schools

A Massachusetts proposal unveiled this week giving schools the option to test students for drugs - provided a parent gives consent - is intended to crack down on drugs in a state with one of the nation's highest rates of teen substance abuse.

If the plan passes, Massachusetts will join a growing list of states and officials considering testing as a tool to counter drugs in schools - a measure widely supported by the Bush administration. The White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy just wrapped up a four-state summit on the values of student drug testing.

The Massachusetts plan and similar proposals have been lauded by those who say any help a school or community can offer is another small victory in the war on drugs. But many others decry random testing, saying there is not sufficient proof that it lowers drug use, that such policies create a culture of distrust, and that any gains from the programs pale in comparison to their costs.

Still, many states and schools are considering the measures:

• In Arizona, a local sheriff sent out hundreds of letters to school officials urging testing after an investigation showed that drug dealers were targeting Scottsdale teenagers.

• School-board members in an Oklahoma district voted this week to test students starting next fall. David Meara, president of the board of Enid Public Schools, says parental objections did not involve privacy or the new program's validity: "The concerns raised by parents were that the policy didn't go far enough, that all students and employees should be tested."

• A Mississippi district also voted this month to implement testing policies for students involved in extracurricular activities. The constitutionality of such programs was affirmed in a 2002 Supreme Court decision.

Data on the number of schools that are testing teens is not widely available. A 2003 University of Michigan study showed that 5 percent of schools tested student athletes, and only 2 percent of schools tested participants in extracurricular activities. Some 18 percent of schools tested for any reason, including suspicion of drug use.

This is a minority of schools, to be sure, but experts say the trend is growing. They suggest that more schools may be paying attention to drug use in the wake of recent high-profile cases of steroid use among student athletes. Others say Mr. Bush's support - he advocated testing in his 2004 State of the Union address - is behind the activity.

"The Bush administration has really taken this up as their sound-bite solution to adolescent drug use," says Jennifer Kern, coordinator of the "Drug Testing Fails Our Youth" campaign for the Drug Policy Alliance.

The Supreme Court ruling in 2002 upheld a public school's right to test students in extracurricular activities. Prior to that, the court had weighed in only on drug tests for athletes. Now, schools are allowed to test on a voluntary basis, as was proposed in Massachusetts.

To supporters of drug testing, such programs could combat the nation's drug problems in the long run. John Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the White House, says that most addiction can be traced back to adolescence. "If we can change that, we can change the face of substance abuse in the US for generations to come," he says. "[Testing] is a powerful tool at critical time in young people's lives."

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