High School Drug Testing

U.S. district courts (as well as lower courts) have ruled rather inconsistently on the issue of drug-testing of students. When they have ruled such tests to be constitutionally protected, they have generally limited the number and type of tests that can be performed as well as which students may be legitimately tested (http://www.ncsl.org/programs/educ/drugtestcourt.htm). However, a 2002 ruling by the Supreme Court broadened the rights of schools to test students.

In that case, an Oklahoma school board argued that the lure of participating in extra-curricular activities could be used as a carrot to keep students away from drugs:

The Pottawatomie County (Okla.) school system argued before the court that drug tests were a deterrent for students who knew that they could not participate in their favorite activities if they tested positive for drugs (http://www.naadac.org/pressroom/index.php?PressReleaseID=8).

Such a policy also gives students an "excuse" not to use drugs. Many students use drugs not because they themselves independently

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d Tenth Amendments in a wide range of court cases). However, the Supreme Court argued that the public school system has a overweening right to try to prevent drug use in the schools. By one vote, the High Court said schools could test all students involved in an activity or team that may participate in any type of competition -- from the football team to the debate team. A majority of the justices said the ability of schools to discourage drug use was more important than an individual student's right to privacy (http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june02/scotus_rights.html). It is precisely in regard to this last issue that drug-testing of students should be pursued: If students know that they are likely to be tested then they are less likely to use drugs. This is a basic, commonsense approach to reducing the use of drugs by young people and thereby helping them to avoid the significant physical and psychological costs of illegal drug use. The decision marks a major victory for antidrug groups and others who believe random testing can provide an effective deterrent to the use of illicit narcotics by teens. "It is a victory for common sense, and our schools will be safer as a result," says David Evans of the Drug-Fr
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Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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