More HS are asking students to take drug test.

[moogle]

Put to the test
More schools are asking students to take drug tests, saying it gives them a reason to 'say no.' Addiction experts contend results are unreliable.
By Shari Roan, Times Staff Writer
May 21, 2007


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ONCE a year or so, Roy Tialavea is summoned from his classes at Oceanside High School to report to the athletic director's office bathroom. He receives a urine specimen cup and heads for a stall.

The 17-year-old is unruffled. Random drug testing has been going on for two years at the school. He's used to it. "I don't use drugs so I don't have to worry about getting caught," he says.

His mother, Robyn, thinks her son steers clear of drugs and alcohol. But, she says, no parent can know for sure what a teenager is up to.

"If he doesn't like testing, I really don't care," she says. "I think it's a wonderful tool. It creates the fear that they could be tested."

Call it the 2007 version of "just say no."

Concerned with high rates of adolescent substance abuse, hundreds of middle schools and high schools nationwide have quietly begun testing some or all students for drugs — to the dismay of some health and addiction experts.

Although less than 5% of all high schools have such programs, testing is now common in schools throughout Texas, Florida, Kentucky and parts of California. In Southern California, many private high schools have implemented drug testing, as have several public school districts in Orange County and San Diego. Nationwide, as many as 1,000 schools have established programs, according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The number of schools administering drug tests is expected to grow. Federal funding for school drug testing increased 400% between 2003 and 2006. The Bush administration spent $8.6 million on such programs last year and has requested $17.9 million for fiscal year 2008.

"This is the best new idea to reduce the onset of drug use," says Dr. Robert L. DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, a nonprofit drug policy organization that has studied school testing. "About half of high school seniors have used an illicit drug by the time they graduate and about one-quarter are regular users by the time they graduate. Those figures are worrisome."

School-based drug testing gives kids a reason to say no, say DuPont and other proponents. The tests are meant to identify students who are using and guide them into counseling or treatment programs before they develop addictions.

But health officials, by and large, oppose school-based drug testing. NAADAC, the Assn. for Addiction Professionals, has released a statement critical of such programs. And in March, the American Academy of Pediatrics cautioned against random school-based drug testing until more research is completed. The two groups are among those who say testing is not reliable enough, violates trust between adults and teens and is not set up to deal effectively with students who have positive results.

Though adults debate testing's merits, students at some high schools hand over urine specimen cups as comfortably as they turn in late library books.

"Kids pretty much know who does drugs and who doesn't," says Alex Podobas, a senior at San Clemente High School, which has had voluntary testing for several years. "But no one says, 'Oh, you're a pothead' when you get called out for testing."

Screening kids for marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines and other illegal drugs at school is an offshoot of two decades of experience with workplace and military drug testing, experts say. Testing methods have improved during that time to reduce the number of false test results while providing greater privacy and confidentiality, says DuPont.

And though substance abuse among teens has dropped in the last decade, parents and school administrators still consider the rates unacceptably high. Just over 20% of eighth-graders and about half of all high school seniors say they have taken an illicit drug, according to 2006 data from Monitoring the Future, the University of Michigan's nationwide annual survey. About 30% of high school seniors say they have been drunk in the last month.

Little faith is put in traditional classroom drug education programs to further drive down substance abuse rates, says Jennifer Kern of the Drug Policy Alliance, a New York City-based organization that focuses on a harm-reduction approach to drug education.

"People are overwhelmed and are looking for new approaches," she says. "A lot of the concern comes from a good place. We haven't done a good job preventing substance abuse."

School drug testing got its biggest boost in 2002 when the Supreme Court ruled that schools may conduct random drug tests among students who wish to participate in school-sponsored extracurricular activities, such as sports, marching band or debate team.

"Fifteen years ago, school drug testing was too controversial," says John P. Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "People thought the test was going to throw kids out of school or give them a criminal record. The Supreme Court decision was an enormously positive step."

But critics say the court's decision opened the floodgates for programs that have not been studiously researched or properly evaluated

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What do you guys think? My brother tells me that there is a drug dog in his school and once in a blue moon would often catch one or two students with a joint. He also tells me that they might do a random drug test by next year, so, posting up what's going to happen in all HS sometime in the future.

[frizbee420]

thats retarded...if kidz wanna do drugs they are going to do drugs, and if they "can't" (because of school) and they do them anyways...they are just going to drop out of school in fear of getting caught by the police...

[The Aceman]

Fuck Bush.

"BUSH MUST GO!!!!!"

Fucked up system. Why doesn't the government and Bush "Just say no" to stupidity? Stupidity is a much bigger problem with this nation than drug use.

[lazer]

no matter what, there is no FEDERAL law stating you have to take random piss tests at school if you look or are suspected of being on drugs.

even if it's a state law, just work it how the cops work the state's medicinal marijuana laws against you.

"even though state law and doctors say you should be smoking this for your health, we choose to observe federal law, and that's the highest up law goes"

[KillerTofu]

lol the parents are all gung ho about it till their kid actually fails gets thrown out of school goes to jail spends the rest of his life as a high school drop out failure and all their freinds look down on em for being bad parents

or like someone said, the kid will just drop out in fear of getting caught. this is invasion of privacy. if some bitch asked me for a urine sample id pee all over her and cry rape. then sue the government for allowing this child mollestation to take place

[natefrogg]

lol, that's how my highschool days were, although, it was a probation officer that would make me do the testing...funny thing was though, i passed all but once, hehe...and let me assure you, i had CRAZY munchies going on pretty much each and every day...

[Jellybean]

i think it sucks
but im not in hs anymore

[KillerTofu]

Originally Posted by Jellybean

i think it sucks
but im not in hs anymore

hahahhha give em a big ol' SUCKS TO BE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as you smoke a joint right in front of em

[Jellybean]

Originally Posted by KillerTofu

hahahhha give em a big ol' SUCKS TO BE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as you smoke a joint right in front of em

of course
:]

[KillerTofu]

Originally Posted by Jellybean

of course
:]

:: lights up and passes it to you::

[Jellybean]

Originally Posted by KillerTofu

:: lights up and passes it to you::

*puff puff pass*

[beefam]

Where do these high schools get the balls to do shit like this. Unless you're high AT school it shouldnt matter... Thats like saying if you get a speeding ticket you should get detention at school too... I would pee alllll over the office!!!

Originally Posted by Jellybean

*puff puff pass*

*puff puff pass*

*rolls up another*