Pubdate: Fri, 23 Aug 2002
Source: Cleveland Daily Banner (TN)
Copyright: 2002 Cleveland Daily Banner
Contact:  http://www.clevelandbanner.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/947
Author: Jerry Estes, District Attorney General

HOW SERIOUS IS DRUG PROBLEM?

Some states are experiencing efforts to legalize drug usage under the guise 
of treatment without mandatory provisions. These efforts have occurred in 
Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, Colorado and Florida.

At the same time, we know that approximately one-third of the students 
nationwide have been sold, offered or given an illegal drug on school 
property. The Center For Disease Control reported 30.2 percent of students 
surveyed nationwide reported being offered, sold or given an illegal drug 
on school property during the 1999 school year.

We also know that before a student graduates from high school in America, 
he or she is more likely than not to have used an illegal drug during their 
lifetime. In a survey of 435 students across America, 54 percent of 
twelfth-grade students and 45.6 percent of tenth-grade students reported 
that they had used an illegal drug during their lifetime.

Juveniles are beginning to ingest drugs at increasingly younger ages. 
Children grow chemically dependent upon drugs more quickly than adults.

With drug abuse comes other social ills. These include violence, criminal 
activity, health-care costs, teenage pregnancy and undereducated youth. 
Substance abuse causes more deaths, disabilities and illnesses than any 
other preventable health condition.

There are many things that can be done to improve these statistics. These 
include deterring drug use, education, treatment and enforcement of laws. 
What we are willing or not willing to do about the drug problem is a 
barometer of our seriousness over the issue.

An interesting and little-known fact concerning the prevention and 
treatment of drug abuse involves the testing of hair. Hair provides an 
extended view of a person's history of substance abuse because drugs and 
drug metabolites remain in the hair shaft indefinitely and hair can be 
tested for all types of illicit substances. Collection of the hair samples 
is noninvasive and preservation, storage and transportation of hair samples 
are things that are easy to do.

New Orleans has taken this piece of scientific information and put it to 
use in attempting to address their drug problem. The New Orleans Drug 
Testing and Assistance Program involves schools that have adopted the 
program and includes both mandatory and voluntary testing.

In participating New Orleans schools, students who wish to participate in 
inter-scholastic or intramural athletics or physically strenuous 
extracurricular activities must submit to the hair testing. For students 
who are not engaged in those activities, participation is voluntary.

The hair analysis is not done randomly, but is performed on all students in 
the program. Students who test positive are referred for a professional 
assessment of the student's drug use, which may result in a referral for 
drug treatment services. Students who test positive are not suspended or 
expelled based on the test results. The information is not shared with 
local law enforcement.

In Jacksonville, a program referred to as D-FY-INCE was begun in 1991. 
Under this program, a student becomes a D-FY-INCE member by voluntarily 
agreeing to take a drug test to provide evidence that he or she is drug 
free. Merchants in the locality offer discounts on their merchandise and 
services ranging from ten to fifty percent for D-FY-INCE members. Merchants 
identify themselves by displaying a window sticker that indicates they 
offer discounts to D-FY-INCE students. The students receive a picture 
identification and a free T- shirt with the D-FY-INCE logo. Fifteen other 
local high schools have implemented the program.

The United States Supreme Court has previously held that randomly drug 
testing the urine of students is constitutionally acceptable. This was 
extended just last June in a Tecumseh, Oklahoma case. In that case, the 
Supreme Court upheld required drug tests of students involved in all 
extracurricular activities, whether French club or football. Like other 
legal school drug-testing programs, the Tecumseh program was not designed 
to punish, was not shared with law enforcement and was therapeutic in 
nature. In many jurisdictions, the establishment of drug courts has also 
had good results.

Substance abuse continues to be a national problem. It is a problem that 
continues to gives us violence, criminal activity, increased health care 
costs, teenage pregnancy and undereducated youth. There are programs that 
show signs of success in the war against drugs, but they are dependent upon 
how serious a community is about dealing with the drug problem.
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