Hard-line Judges Are About To Give A Thumbs-Up To Drug Tests In Schools Across The Nation. After twenty years of prayer and hard lobbying, drug warriors are on the verge of succeeding in their effort to institute random drug testing of high school students. Sometime in June, the Supreme Court is expected to issue a decision in favor of an Oklahoma school with an aggressive anti-drug program. The ruling will loosen the standard for acceptable drug testing of students: About 500 schools currently test kids, most of them athletes, but soon any students involved in other school activities might be subject to the involuntary tests, and students and parents will have not higher authority to whom they can protest. [continues 1963 words]
According to the students at rural Rushville Consolidated High School, there are a dozen ways to pass a drug test. You can march down to the local video store and buy a packet of "Karma" urine-cleansing powder. You can toss salt in your urine sample or drop in a strand of hair coated with hairspray. More often than not, it's simply a matter of choosing the right kinds of drugs, say the teens -- Ecstasy and alcohol disappear from your system within hours; marijuana can take up to 30 days. [continues 3160 words]
Education: Convinced Of A Serious Problem, Rural District May Take Gamble That Could Bring Suits. ALTURAS, Calif. -- Seab McDonald doesn't care what outsiders think: He's convinced there's a dangerous teenage drug problem in this folksy, far-removed corner of Northern California. And the gray-haired community patriarch wants to put a stop to it now. So McDonald and other members of the Modoc Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees are leaning toward taking a gamble they know could bring them unwanted notoriety and even lawsuits. [continues 1922 words]
SOME U.S. SUPREME COURT justices appeared - during questioning about a case involving drug-testing by an Oklahoma school district - to be open to the idea of random drug-testing for students who are involved in extracurricular activities. It would be fine with us if the high court, which will probably rule on the issue this summer, will allow random tests for students who choose to become involved with extracurricular activities. That has been our position for years. Locally, we have seen the challenge to a drug-testing policy by the Lockney Independent School District, which ended with a ruling by U.S. District Judge Sam Cummings that the policy was unconstitutional. The Lockney school district decided not to appeal the ruling and went back to its old policy of testing where reason for suspicion, such as erratic behavior consistent with drug or alcohol impairment, exists. [continues 341 words]
In January of 1999 Lindsay Earls was summoned from choir class and told she should report to the cafeteria. She was joined by other students, all of whom knew why they were there. They had been randomly chosen for a drug test. Officials escorted the students to the bathroom and ordered them to provide urine samples, which were tested for the presence of illegal drugs. School officials had no evidence that Earls or any of the other students chosen had used drugs. The Tecumseh School District in Oklahoma doesn't have a documented drug problem; however, it does have one of the toughest school drug-testing policies in the United States. The district requires that high school students must undergo drug tests if they wish to take part in any extracurricular activity, including such havens for drug use as the chess club, debate team and the choir. Even if the student tests negative, he or she must also agree to random drug testing throughout the year. [continues 639 words]
from the Media Awareness Project WEEKLY: The DrugSense Weekly, the originial drug policy weekly on the 'net, has the largest email and web following of any single item we provide. Distributed late Fridays, you can always check the current issue at http://www.drugsense.org/current.htm or sign up to receive it by email in text or HTML web page format at http://www.drugsense.org/news.htm BY EMAIL: Our most popular email service is called the DrugNews Digest (DND). Each digest contains an average of about ten news items - but only the first paragraph or two of the item along with a link to the entire article. Here is an example (spaces not in the DND's have been added so that this example, as archived, will appear as close to correct as possible): [continues 2376 words]
The father of a Tulia high school student will not support a policy that subjects his son to random drug testing at school. Alan Bean expressed those sentiments during a school board meeting Tuesday. Bean told the board that he feels it's unconstitutional to subject his son and other students to drug testing in order to participate in athletics. Bean's son, Amos, a 15-year-old sophomore, plays football and will refuse the school district if it requests him to submit to a random urinalysis for drug screening, his father said. [continues 304 words]
Amie Simmons, a Newton High honor roll student who has never received a detention, is facing a slew of punishments for refusing to agree to school-mandated drug testing. Her father, Mack Simmons, believes she is doing the right thing by refusing the test. Like other parents in the Newton Independent School District, he says the new drug-testing policy is unconstitutional. "They are violating my constitutional rights, and hers too," Simmons said. In April, the Newton school board adopted a policy requiring random drug testing for students in grades six through 12 who drive to school or participate in athletic activities. [continues 537 words]
The Liberty-Eylau school district may discontinue or change its drug testing program this year in the wake of recent judgments against districts with similar policies. Four years ago, the high school began testing all students who participated in extracurricular activities and any other student who volunteered for the testing. Superintendent Don Rader said the program has been successful and enjoys communitywide support. "We've had excellent results," he said. "But we're going to have to evaluate it before next year." [continues 303 words]
LIBERAL, Kan. - Liberal schools will require random drug tests of its middle and high school students in extracurricular activities beginning in the fall, said Kerry Roberts, superintendent of Liberal schools. The Liberal Unified School District 480 school board voted Monday to implement the policy, which is similar to one implemented by Dumas Independent School District in Texas, Roberts said. "So many schools have it," said Roberts, who added that the district began looking at implementing the policy two years ago. "These students (in extracurricular activities) are usually people that other kids look up to. And if it's accidentally found, it allows that parent to get them some help. The parent may not know." [continues 356 words]
Fire. It's dangerous. It's beautiful. It is fearful in its potential. It is useful. Employed in a case of arson it can do enormous harm to property; it can kill people in a hideous way. Society has come to grips with fire. In spite of the horrendous danger it represents, almost every home has it, almost anyone can make it. We start early teaching our children about it - how to create it, how to use it wisely, what the dangers are. We build fire stations and we train firefighters to deal with fires that exceed our control, either by accident or design. Our laws and technology for containing fire stop short of eliminating it. [continues 742 words]
Drug Ruling Cheats Safety The decision Wednesday by the Lockney Independent School District to halt its legal battle over a mandatory drug testing policy is understandable, but unfortunate just the same. The decision is unfortunate for students and parents, who now have one less method to combat the damaging influence of drugs in their school and community. The decision is unfortunate for LISD school officials, who rather than being permitted to determine the district's need for such a policy must legally justify conducting a drug test based on "reasonable suspicion." The decision also is unfortunate for the justice system, which failed to address the constitutionality of the issue and only added to the ambiguity of school authority. [continues 295 words]
LOCKNEY - Larry Tannahill of Lockney finally can breath a sigh of relief. After a year of fighting the local school district's mandatory drug-testing policy, Tannahill got his wish: Lockney schools will not make its students submit to future drug testing, according to a tentative settlement agreement. The American Civil Liberties Union filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tannahill and his son Brady, who was the only Lockney student who did not take the mandatory suspicionless drug testing. Larry Tannahill said he feels vindicated but also a little road weary. [continues 467 words]
LOCKNEY - The Lockney Independent School District is dropping its appeal to use a mandatory drug-testing program that a federal judge ruled was unconstitutional. "We're happy it's over with," said Larry Tannahill, who filed the lawsuit along with the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of his 13-year-old son, Brady. Tannahill refused to sign a parental consent form, and the teen-ager refused to take the test. Tannahill said his attorney told him about the district's decision Wednesday afternoon. [continues 402 words]
DIMMITT - The Dimmitt Independent School District has suspended its random drug-testing program while it awaits rulings in pending lawsuits challenging the legality of such programs, a school official said. The school board voted 6-1 last week to stop testing seventh-through 12th-graders who participate in extracurricular activities, superintendent Les Miller said Wednesday. "We had talked to the attorneys at TASB (Texas Association of School Boards) and our attorney, and both made the recommendation to suspend the policy until we know what rulings come down," Miller said. [continues 208 words]
The Lockney Independent School District will appeal a ruling which deemed its mandatory drug policy unconstitutional. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans received the notice of appeal Thursday. Larry Tannahill was the only parent who refused to allow his son to be tested when the district began drug screening students and faculty in February 2000. Assisted by the American Civil Liberties Union, Tannahill sued the school district claiming its policy violated his son's rights under the Fourth and 14th Amendments, which protect against unreasonable searches and seizures. [continues 186 words]
Six years after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling upheld random drug testing of student athletes, spurring hundreds of school districts to adopt similar policies, several recent court decisions have struck down broader programs that test non-athletes. Some experts say the newer rulings reflect a shift in the public's approach to preventing drug use. Last week, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Denver, said the Tecumseh, Okla., school district violated students' constitutional rights by requiring drug tests for anyone who participated in interscholastic activities. Early this month, a federal judge rejected mandatory drug testing for all students in grades seven through 12 in Lockney, Texas. And state courts in Indiana, New Jersey, Oregon and Pennsylvania have expressed similar reservations about such policies. [end]
Six years after a United States Supreme Court ruling upheld random drug testing of student athletes, spurring hundreds of school districts to adopt similar policies, several recent court decisions have struck down broader programs that test nonathletes. Some experts say the newer rulings reflect a shift in the public's approach to preventing drug use. Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, in Denver, said the Tecumseh, Okla., school district violated students' constitutional rights by requiring drug tests for anyone who participated in interscholastic activities. [continues 908 words]
LUBBOCK - A federal judge denied a motion by Lockney schools to rehear the case involving its mandatory "suspicionless" drug-testing program, attorneys said Friday. Judge Sam R. Cummings with the U.S. District Court, Northern District, ruled earlier this month that Lockney schools' drug-testing program was unconstitutional. He ruled Friday that he did not want to revisit the case, said Michael Linz, a Dallas attorney who filed the original lawsuit. "There's a strong probability that we appeal," said Lee Veness, a Dallas lawyer representing Lockney Independent School District. [continues 274 words]
One South Carolina School Tries Out A New Drug-prevention Tool: Voluntary Testing For Athletes. Call it the scarlet letter - in reverse. A South Carolina high school is passing out gold stars to student athletes who agree to take drug tests - hoping to pressure others to "volunteer." "We didn't want this to be a punitive measure," says Principal Ron Cowden. "But there's nothing wrong with a little peer pressure." Controversies over mandatory testing have erupted from Lockney, Texas, to Veronia, Ore., as student testing, particularly of athletes, has become more common during the past decade. The debate frequently centers over whether the testing is a violation of students' rights and privacy. [continues 820 words]
