Pubdate: Sat, 06 Jul 2002
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2002 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Jeff Gelb and Stefan J. Reich

DRUG TESTING INVADES PRIVACY

THE U.S. Supreme Court's decision to allow random drug testing in public 
schools is outrageous, counterproductive and an invasion of students' right 
to privacy.

I am a recent graduate of a local high school. I am outraged that any 
school would have the gall to waste money that could be spent on books, 
computers and other school supplies to randomly test smart, well-behaved, 
responsible students for drug use that occurs outside of school.

Many students in public schools use extracurricular activities as an 
alternative to using drugs, some even as a means to cease substance abuse. 
Drug tests such as these often test for concentrations of a substance that 
go back months in the person's history. If one such student was kicked out 
of a school program because of one of these tests, then he or she would be 
returned to the temptations of abuse.

The ruling shows an incredible lack of intelligence and connection to 
society on the part of the justices.

Jeff Gelb

San Jose
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AS an incoming senior at Scotts Valley High School, I am distressed by the 
U.S. Supreme Court's decision concerning school districts and the right to 
drug test middle- and high-school students involved in extracurricular 
activities.

In 1995, the court had ruled in favor of drug-testing student athletes. 
While that alone is unreasonable, expanding the scope to include 
participants in such activities as choir, speech and debate, and numerous 
other on-campus clubs or organizations is outrageous.

While it is understandable that a school district would be concerned with 
the potential impact of drugs on campus, sweeping and invasive testing does 
not act as a deterrent. As one dissenting Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, 
"[Drug testing] invades the privacy of students who need deterrence least 
and risks steering students at greatest risk for substance abuse away from 
extracurricular involvement that potentially may palliate drug problems."

A positive drug test does not indicate whether a student was impaired or 
intoxicated at the time of the test, nor does it show the frequency or 
quantities of drugs or alcohol used by the student. Therefore, tests do not 
provide any information relevant to helping students with substance abuse 
problems, and may produce even more harm by incriminating the completely 
innocent though false positives. Drug tests cannot test for every illicit 
drug or previous alcohol use, so students who consume less harmful yet 
easily testable marijuana may turn to substances with a more considerable 
impact yet which are not detected in standard urinalysis.

Clearly, we are not too far away from the of universal drug testing of all 
students. Shame on the five justices who ruled in favor of testing.

Stefan J. Reich, 17

Santa Cruz
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MAP posted-by: Beth