Pubdate: Fri, 23 May 2003
Source: Monroe News-Star (LA)
Copyright: 2003 The News-Star, Gannett
Contact:   http://www.thenewsstar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1644
Author: Leo Babinger

DRUG TESTING MISSES THE MARK

In response to the article on parish schools drug testing students that 
participate in extracurricular activities, the most comprehensive test of 
its kind has just been completed by the University of Michigan. Briefly, 
"The new federally financed study of 76,000 students nationwide, by far the 
largest to date, found that drug use is just as common in schools with 
testing as in those without it.'

The Michigan study was financed through grants from the National Institute 
on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, as well as the 
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which supports drug testing in schools.

Student involvement in after-school activities has been shown to reduce 
drug use. They keep kids busy during hours they are most likely to get into 
trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests will only 
discourage participation in extracurricular activities.

Drug testing may also 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.

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.

Leo Babinger

Prairieville
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