Pubdate: Tue, 01 Aug 2006 Source: Springfield News-Leader (MO) Copyright: 2006 The Springfield News-Leader Contact: http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1129 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Test) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) SCHOOL DRUG-TESTING IS MISGUIDED Branson School Board Follows Disturbing Trend. Imagine this scenario: A troubled young man confides in a teacher or counselor at Branson High School that he has a drug problem. The teenager needs focus and is directed to apply his enthusiasm to the world of athletics. Following the guidance, the young man tries out for the football team. He excels. His grades improve. He's turning his life around. A few weeks later he's administered a school-approved random drug test. He fails. He's suspended. He gives up on football. His grades drop. He's lost. This is but one of the many possible scenarios that cause us to oppose the new drug testing program approved by Branson school officials this week. We realize we're in the minority. The vote on the school board was unanimous. There was hardly any opposition to the drug testing during public meetings. Such is often the case in the many small towns in the Ozarks and elsewhere that have adopted such policies. Who wants to be labeled pro-drug? Well, we're not pro-drug. But we stand for personal freedoms. We stand for public policies that solve problems. And we stand for school districts being in the business of educating, not policing social norms. It's why we oppose the continued movement by too many school districts to get into the drug testing business. There's no doubt drugs are a scourge in our society. Meth. Pot. Booze. All have their place in the pantheon of problems facing young people. That doesn't mean we should depend on our schools to fix the problem. We've already tried that with DARE programs, and guess what? The very people who endorse DARE -- Branson has a long-running program -- are now in effect admitting that it's not working by way of implementing drug testing. That's not going to work, either. Besides sending a message to children that personal freedoms mean little in today's society, the program also establishes a precedent for setting up various classes of people. Athletes are worthy of testing. Nobody else is. That's not only unfair, it's counterintuitive. Study after study has shown that students who participate in extracurricular activities are more likely to be good citizens, to have good grades and to ignore the lure of drugs. That's not to say they're perfect, but if the school really wants to stop drug use, why not test everybody? By focusing on athletes and students who use a school parking lot, the school board leaves out an entire class of students who are more than likely a higher risk than those they decided to test. What's next? Testing teachers? Testing volunteers? Testing for body fat? Daily locker raids? That the community in Branson, and the schools in general, want to make a statement that drug-use won't be tolerated is a good thing. But by choosing an intrusive and fundamentally discriminatory drug testing program over some other comprehensive community-wide solution -- such as, education, for instance -- the school board has chosen a path too many other districts are following. The message is a good one. The implementation, however, is all wrong. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath