Pubdate: Wed, 25 Sep 2002
Source: Winston-Salem Journal (NC)
Copyright: 2002 Piedmont Publishing Co. Inc.
Contact:  http://www.journalnow.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/504
Note: The Journal does not publish letters from writers outside its daily 
home delivery circulation area.
Author: Deirdre Fernandes, Journal Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

DRUG-TEST PROGRAM SHOWS LIMITED SUCCESS, STUDY SAYS

First Violations in Activities Test Group Increased Last Year

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school system took a controversial step in 
1998 by requiring high-school students who want to play sports or join 
clubs to submit to random drug testing.

After four years, the success of the program, which also allows students 
who don't participate in activities to volunteer to be tested for drugs, 
has been limited, according to an annual report released last night during 
a school-board meeting.

Substance-abuse violations in high schools have dropped only slightly, from 
167 in 1997-98 to 154 last year. Among high-school athletes and students in 
other extracurricular activities, first-time violations increased last 
year, and enrollment in the system's voluntary drug-testing program for 
high-school and middle-school students decreased.

However, the program, which costs about $48,000 a year and is paid for by 
the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office, has helped more students who use drugs 
get counseling, said Nancy Dixon, the program specialist for Safe and 
Drug-Free Schools.

In the program's first year, only six of the 19 students who tested 
positive for drugs accepted counseling. Last year 20 students of the 48 
students who tested positive got help.

Donny Lambeth, the chairman of the school board, said he had expected 
better results when the system became the first in the state to make 
participation in extracurricular activities contingent upon the random drug 
test.

"The data is not overwhelming that it's being successful, and that's a 
little concerning," Lambeth said after the meeting. "It was really 
disappointing to see that it wasn't a deterrent in extracurriculars."

Under the policy, the system can test up to 25 percent of the students in 
the program. Last year, 1,015 students, or 15 percent of students enrolled, 
were tested. As in the past, about 5 percent of the students tested 
positive, mostly for marijuana.

Students who test positive for drug or alcohol use can get counseling at 
Step One, a local drug-treatment center. Those who don't accept the 
counseling are banned from extracurricular activities for a year.

The school board started the program in response to the rising number of 
students in clubs and on sports teams caught using drugs.

During the 1997-98 school year, participants in extracurricular activities 
committed about 47 percent of the first-time alcohol- and drug-policy 
violations that were reported, Dixon said.

"We wanted to give kids a reason not to use," Dixon said. "We wanted to set 
a norm."

The number of drug violations committed by students participating in 
extracurricular activities dropped to 33 percent after the first full year 
of the program. That figure dropped to 30percent in 2000-01. It rose last 
year to 35 percent.

Only 1.3 percent of the high-school student body committed drug violations, 
but the increase among students in extracurricular activities was 
surprising, Dixon said.

The number of students participating in the drug-testing program decreased 
from 7,951 in 2000 to 7,597 last year, she said.

"We got a wake-up call," Dixon said. "Some of the emphasis has begun to 
wane, and schools have so many things going on. I think it's important to 
keep the anti-substance-abuse message out there."

But Lambeth said he is worried that the policy is too soft and has failed 
to make a real dent in drug use.

"It needs to be monitored a little more closely," he said. "There aren't a 
lot of consequences. It's not a heavy-handed approach ... but we wanted to 
identify and help students. Maybe it's beneficial from that standpoint. 
Maybe there needs to be some consequences."
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager