more on drug testing

more on drug testing

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20070508/cm_usatoday/noquickfix

No quick fix

By Marsha Rosenbaum
USA Today
May 8, 2007


Though touted by the Bush administration as the "silver bullet" that
will force teenagers to "just say no," random drug testing is of
questionable effectiveness. It is also costly, counterproductive and
violates basic American values. That's why the million-member California
State PTA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Education
Association, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, and
the majority of the nation's school districts oppose school-based drug
testing.

According to the Academy of Pediatrics, "There is little evidence of the
effectiveness of school-based drug testing in the scientific
literature." In fact, the only federally funded, peer-reviewed study,
which compared 94,000 students in 900 U.S. schools, found no difference
in illegal drug use between schools with and without a testing program.

Before subjecting secondary school students to a policy as invasive as
random drug testing, evidence of its efficacy should be more conclusive
than anecdotes offered by a few enthusiastic proponents and a drug
testing industry that stands to reap billions.

Drug testing is costly. With federal grants, individual schools, many of
them strapped for funds, spend between $10,000 and $40,000 per year for
testing. This money could be used more productively for sports, arts,
drama, music and other extracurricular activities that keep teens
engaged between3 and 6 p.m., when they are bored and unsupervised. The
funds could also be used to hire credentialed counselors who couldfocus
full-time on substance abuse and related mental health issues.

Drug testing, regardless of how it's packaged, is an invasive diagnostic
procedure. Like other health issues, alcohol and other drug use should
first and foremost be the domain of parents and physicians. If parents
want to drug-test their own children, they can easily buy
over-the-counter kits at their local pharmacies or see their family
doctors, leaving schools out of it.

There is no quick fix for the complex issue of substance abuse. Quality
drug education and after-school programs that help students thrive will
best result in the kind of responsible decision-making that endures
beyond the teen years and into adulthood.


Dr. Marsha Rosenbaum, a medical sociologist, directs the San Francisco
office of the Drug Policy Alliance. She is co-author of Making Sense of
Student Drug Testing: Why Educators are Saying No