Pubdate: Sat, 8 Aug 2009
Source: Naples Daily News (FL)
Copyright: 2009 Naples Daily News
Contact: http://www.naplesnews.com/send-a-letter/
Website: http://www.naplesnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/284
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09.n763.a08.html
Author: Robert Sharpe

WHY TESTING FLUNKS

Editor, Daily News:

The Collier County School Board needs to educate itself on the down
side of student drug testing.

Student involvement in after-school activities -- like sports -- has
been shown to reduce drug use. They keep kids busy during the hours
they are most likely to get into trouble. Forcing students to undergo
degrading urine tests as a prerequisite will only discourage
participation in extracurricular programs.

Drug testing may also compel marijuana users to switch to harder drugs
to avoid testing positive. This is one of the reasons the American
Academy of Pediatrics opposes student drug testing.

Despite a short-lived high, marijuana is the only illegal drug that
stays in the human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent.
Marijuana's organic metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger for
days. More dangerous synthetic drugs like prescription narcotics are
water-soluble and exit the body quickly.

If you think students don't know this, think again. Anyone capable of
running an Internet search can find out how to thwart a drug test.

The most commonly abused drug and the one most closely associated with
violent behavior is almost impossible to detect with urinalysis. That
drug is alcohol, and it takes far more student lives each year than
all illegal drugs combined.

Instead of wasting money on counterproductive drug tests, schools
should invest in reality-based drug education.

Robert Sharpe

Washington, D.C.

Policy analyst,

Common Sense for Drug Policy 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake