Pubdate: Sat, 13 Jul 2002
Source: Coeur d'Alene Press (ID)
Address: P.O. Box 7000, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho 83814
Phone: (208) 664-8176
Website: http://www.cdapress.com/
Contact:  2002 Coeur d'Alene Press
Author: Greg Johnson
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

DRUG RULING: TESTING A GOOD ATTEMPT TO ENCOURAGE NON-USE

I'm glad to hear the discussion about the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on 
drug testing students who participate in extracurricular activities. As a 
school counselor in the Coeur d'Alene School District, my opinions on the 
matter have gone back and forth until the past few years when I began to 
take a closer look at the drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention research 
from District 271.

Since 1989, substance use has gone down in every area with the students in 
our local secondary schools. With support from the Department of 
Education's Safe and Drug Free School funds, we have been able to identify 
use patterns at various grade levels and we have designed and implemented a 
variety of prevention programs. Even though the results of our research 
shows a steady decline in use, we still have a long way to go.

One school-based prevention program that has shown positive results is 
Idaho Drug Free Youth. This program began about 10 years ago when students 
who were drug and alcohol free noticed that the students who used 
substances received more attention for using than non-users did for being 
drug-free. The only way these students believed they could prove that they 
were substance free was to take a drug test. In the past 10 years, 200 
businesses in Idaho have rewarded thousands of students with discount cards 
to reward drug-free students for making healthy choices to be drug-free.

Students already sign an agreement to be substance free during the time 
they participate in their extracurricular activities, but have not been 
required to be tested. With the new ruling, students can now validate their 
healthy and safe choice to be drug-free by consenting to take a drug test.

Together the research and the drug-free students agree that drug testing is 
a positive attempt to encourage non-use and a tangible way to measure the 
effectiveness of all the other prevention programs.

GREG JOHNSON

School District 271
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MAP posted-by: Beth