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Drug
Testing and Drug Detox News & Useful Information ACLU
(American Civil Liberties Union) Says First National Study on Student
Drug Testing Confirms Policy is Ineffective as Well as Unconstitutional
May
19, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK – Citing the first-ever large-scale national study confirming
that school drug testing fails to curb student
drug use, the American
Civil Liberties Union today called on schools to heed these important
new findings and end drug testing programs.
"
In light of these findings, schools should be hard-pressed to implement
or continue a policy that is intrusive and even insulting for their
students, especially when drug testing fails to deter student
drug use," said Graham Boyd, Director of the ACLU Drug
Policy Litigation
Project.
While school drug testing has recently become a huge topic of debate
in the courts, in schools, and among the general public, there has
not, until now, been any conclusive research on whether drug testing
is effective in addressing student drug use and how widespread testing
is in schools. This federally funded study answers both of these
questions.
The study, published last month in the Journal of School Health,
a peer-reviewed publication of the American School Health Association,
found no statistical difference regarding rates of drug use between
schools that implemented drug testing policies and those that had
not.
Analyzing data collected between 1998 and 2001 from 76,000 students
in 8th, 10th and 12th grades, the study found that drug testing of
any kind was not a significant predictor of marijuana or other illicit
drug use by students, including athletes.
The United States Supreme Court, which allowed random school
drug testing twice for athletes and students in competitive, extra-curricular
activities,
both times relied on the premise that drug testing plays an important
role in deterring drug use. "Obviously, the Justices did not have
the benefit of this study," said Boyd, who last year argued against
an Oklahoma school drug testing policy in a Supreme Court challenge. "But
schools do, and we urge them to heed these results."
The study concludes that "drug testing in schools may not provide
a panacea for reducing student drug use that some (including some on
the Supreme Court) had hoped…To prevent harmful student behaviors
such as drug use, school policies that address…key values, attitudes,
and perceptions may prove more important in drug prevention than drug
testing."
The study also found that the percentages of schools adopting drug
testing policies between 1998 and 2001 was relatively low, with only
18 percent of schools implementing drug testing policies, the majority
focusing on those who are suspected of using drugs. Suspicionless
drug testing was far less common: less than five percent of schools
in the
study drug tested athletes, and only two percent of schools drug
tested students in extracurricular activities.
The ACLU, which has been fighting random student drug testing, welcomed
this news. "The research in this study supports the opinion of
doctors, social workers and education professionals – many of
whom submitted friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the ACLU’s
Supreme Court challenge – that students and student athletes
should not be singled out for involuntary screening for drugs," Boyd
said.
"
As a policy matter, violating students’ rights while doing nothing
to reduce the amount of drug use in schools makes little sense," he
added, noting that other studies have demonstrated that the single
best way to prevent drug use among students is to engage them in extra-curricular
activities.
One of the lead researchers of the study is Dr. Lloyd D. Johnston
of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbo, who is also a senior researcher
of the Monitoring the Future survey, the leading national survey
that
documents trends in student drug use and attitudes about drugs.
The study was financed by grants from the National Institute on Drug
Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation.
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