Pubdate: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 Source: Winkler Times (CN MB) Copyright: 2003 Winkler Times Contact: http://www.winklertimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2167 Author: Don Radford Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DRUG TESTING POLICY WOULD HAVE BEEN UNLAWFUL, UNNECESSARY The drug testing policy Garden Valley School Division developed last year and scrapped this year would have been both unlawful and unnecessary, says the provincial ombudsman. In concluding that the testing would have been an unlawful invasion of student privacy, the ombudsman says the testing policy would also not likely have produced any positive results. Noting that a division survey compared local students' drug use to that in the United States, the ombudsman's recently released report states "...the use of drugs by students in the Division is significantly below the national average in the United States. The use of drugs to be randomly tested has clearly declined over the past eight years without a random drug-testing program." Other Factors Already Working The report commends the community by suggesting that the decline is due to other already existing factors in the community and in the school system and notes "...it is difficult for us to conclude that there is a compelling purpose for other deterrence measures that are so intrusive on students' privacy." The report goes on to say that even if some additional measures were necessary, any success of Garden Valley's proposed policy would be suspect. Because the policy was to be limited to students in sports and extracurricular activities, the report argues, those students who wanted to take drugs would only have to drop out of those programs in order to avoid testing. "This would further deprive these students of positive influences and activities. If the Division views drug testing as necessary for deterrence, it is hard to see how the program would deter students who were not subject to testing," the report observed. Drinking Instead Of Drugs? The report also suggested that, if implemented, the testing could potentially steer students from drugs that could be detected to non-detectable drugs like alcohol. According to the surveys conducted by the Division, more junior high students (27 per cent) and high school students (51 per cent) use alcohol than all other drugs combined. The report noted that drinking increased by 11 per cent between 1995 and 2002 and observed that a drug testing program that did not test for alcohol could further increase alcohol use. Presumed Guilty? The report goes on to state: "We compared the number of students who would be tested with the scope of the problem. It would appear that almost all student athletes would likely be tested over the course of a year. Yet the surveys seem to indicate that only a small fraction of students consume drugs. Unlike reasonable-suspicion testing, we note that random testing presumes everyone is guilty and forces every selected student to "prove" his or her innocence by urinating into a container, perhaps while being watched. "As previously noted, the Division already has a range of disciplinary measures that can be implemented without a positive drug test and without collecting additional personal health information. To "catch" a few students who are taking drugs, probably outside of school hours and activities, the Division is proposing to intrude in practice or in principle on the dignity and privacy of almost every student in sports or extracurricular activities by implementing a random drug-testing program," said the ombudsman's report.