Pubdate: Sat, 30 Apr 2005
Source: Journal Gazette, The (IN)
Copyright: 2005 The Journal Gazette
Contact:  http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/908

STALE DRUG TESTING

With the Southwest Allen County Schools board poised to adopt language
Tuesday spelling out its first random drug testing policy, it is significant
to note that the school system will not test for a drug with high potential
for abuse by athletes: steroids.

Steroid testing is not on SACS' agenda because of its high financial costs,
several hundred dollars for a single test. Warsaw High School, which began
drug testing in the 1990s, isn't testing for steroids, either. Manchester
High School's policy leaves open the possibility of steroid hunts based on
probable cause. If a freshman, for example, ends the year a scrawny lad but
returns in August for football tryouts ripped beyond the capability of
merely sucking down dietary supplements and pumping iron, the administration
could demand a steroid test.

This page has opposed random drug testing of students because it violates
their rights against searches without cause and because its effectiveness is
questionable. If school officials are going to test, though, they need to be
looking for drugs with the highest potential for abuse, and they need to
anticipate which drugs students may be using in the future. While steroid
tests are cost-prohibitive now, they may become more affordable in the
future.

Nationally, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson pledged to spend $330,000 for
steroid testing. On Thursday, Florida's House passed a measure 118-0 that
would create a pilot program to test students in a sport to be selected by
the state's governing body for prep sports. High schools would also have to
adopt anti-steroid policies.

Fortunately, another increasingly popular drug with high potential for abuse
- -- methamphetamine -- is among the drugs school systems routinely test for.

Still, schools should regularly review whether the tests are worth the
financial costs as well as invasion of students' privacy. Manchester High
School, for example, has yet to nab a single student since it began random
testing in 2003. Warsaw High School, which began testing in the 1990s, has
yielded some positive tests.

In Manchester, the fact that no one has been caught in random testing partly
proves the system is working, vice principal Randy Self believes, although
he was quick to point out that he doesn't delude himself into believing that
drinking and drug taking isn't an issue in the community.

At Warsaw High School, assistant athletic director Dave Anson says results
there prove the system works by netting students before they fall even
further into illicit drug use.

It's hard to doubt the sincerity expressed by those who support random drug
testing of secondary school students. Drug use and abuse is a serious health
crisis. Yet the earnestness for testing espoused by school administrators,
coaches, teachers, parents and even students does not automatically
translate into good policy.
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MAP posted-by: Josh