Pubdate: Sun, 08 Aug 2004 Source: Albany Democrat-Herald (OR) Copyright: 2004 Lee Enterprises Contact: http://www.mvonline.com/support/contact/DHedletters.php Website: http://www.democratherald.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/7 Author: Theresa Novak Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States) NOTE, LEBANON: DRUG TESTING IS NOT EFFECTIVE The Lebanon School Board members who took a cautious attitude about implementing a school drug-testing program are on the right track. An even better approach would be to scrap the proposal entirely, especially as it relates to random drug testing. Last year, the National Institute on Drug Abuse released its 500-page report on adolescent drug use. It said drug education and parental involvement are key to keeping adolescents off drugs. In unusually strong terms, the report stated that drug testing was ineffective. Incidents of drug use were no different at schools where random drug testing was implemented from schools that had no drug testing. What was different was that testing was expensive and tended to alienate and humiliate students and make them more distrustful of adults and of authority. At the Central Linn School District, the only one in the area that randomly drug tests its students, Superintendent Max Harrell said "a very small percent" of the students tested have been found to be taking illegal drugs. This begs the question, so why do it? Even districts that used a more comprehensive drug test to identify drug-involved kids found that testing was not cost-effective. In Dublin, Ohio, the school district spent $35,000 a year to test 1,473 students at a cost of $24 each. Eleven students tested positive, making the cost of identifying them $3,200 a student. What makes less sense about the initial Lebanon proposal was that it would require students who want to take part in extracurricular activities to take drug tests. It defies logic to assume that drug-testing students that want to be part of extracurricular activities will identify many drug users. The same report that found drug testing ineffective also found that what was most effective was simple: Caring parents and adult role models who spent time with adolescents and really listened to their concerns. Unsurprisingly, active, involved students also are less likely to turn to drugs for refuge or recreation. Instead of paying a lab to run a drug-testing program, the school district could hire a school resource officer or counselor to be available to students as a sounding board. Even implementing more after school activities to give students a sense of belonging and purpose would be more statistically effective than random drug testing, an idea whose time has come - and gone. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake