Pubdate: Sun, 01 Sep 2002
Source: Columbia Daily Herald (TN)
Copyright: 2002 Columbia Daily Herald
Contact:  http://www.columbiadailyherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1896
Author: Robert Sharpe
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)

COLUMBIA ACADEMY PRESIDENT DR. BILL THRASHER MIGHT WANT TO EDUCATE HIMSELF 
ON THE DOWNSIDE OF STUDENT DRUG TESTING.

Drug testing may compel users of relatively harmless marijuana to switch to 
harder drugs to avoid testing positive.

Despite a short-lived high, marijuana is the only drug that stays in the 
human body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent. Marijuana's organic 
metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger for days. Synthetic drugs are 
water-soluble and exit the body quickly. A student who takes ecstasy, meth, 
LSD or OxyContin on Friday night will likely test clean on Monday morning. 
If you think students don't know this, think again. Anyone capable of 
running a search on the Internet can find out how to thwart a drug test. 
Drug testing profiteers do not readily volunteer this information, for 
obvious reasons.

The most commonly abused drug and the one most closely associated with 
violent behavior is almost impossible to detect with urinalysis. That drug 
is alcohol, and it takes far more student lives every year than all illegal 
drugs combined. Instead of wasting money on counterproductive drug tests, 
schools should invest in reality-based drug education.

Sincerely,

Robert Sharpe, M.P.A., Program Officer

Drug Policy Alliance

www.drugpolicy.org

Washington, DC
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager