Suetaz

Can Local Student Drug-Testing Proposal Work?

6/16/2004 | By Mike Price, Marion County Bureau Reporter | WCJB

Drug-testing programs like the one Marion County's superintendent is proposing have had mixed results -- and so have studies on the subject. But Jim Yancey says if they can scare just a few kids straight, the program will be a success.

"That can be crippling for a student," Yancey says. "Not only academically and physically, but also emotionally and destroy their lives for a long time if they get hooked."

[Suetaznote: Reading the above paragraph I first thought he was talking about drug testing until I read the "if they get hooked". It makes more sense to me to replace "hooked" with "drug tested".]

So if the school board says okay to Yancey's plan, a quarter of Marion County's high school athletes will be randomly drug-tested this fall. The tests will check for marijuana and other illegal drugs, but not steroids -- because of the cost.

[Suetaznote: Why only test the athletes? To teach them further discrimination? First they discriminate against drug users and then against athletes. High school students now learn that their rights are taken away if they participate in school athletics and then all extra-curricular activities. Notice they put marijuana out front and casually mention "other drugs" like they are less important? And they can't be bothered to test for steroids because it's too expensive, meanwhile steroids will do a lot more physical harm to them than marijuana ever could.]

The board would then expand testing to all extra-curricular activities in 2005.

"The athletes are just that -- they are high profile," Yancey says. "And as soon as you drug test any group, the first thing they're going to say is: 'What do you mean you're testing me? What about that star quarterback?'"

[Suetaznote: Oh, that makes sense, strip them of their dignity and rights and use them as an example because they're "high profile"? Is this part of Operation Pipedreams? They took out Tommy Chong, the leader, now they are moving down the ladder. As Pink Floyd would sing, "Leave those kids alone!"]

In Florida, only Polk County has a similar program -- which started last school year. So far, they say the results are promising.

"Last year in a survey, we found 14-percent of students disclosed that they used marijuana for example," says Ed Boos with the Polk County Student Athlete Testing Program. "We tested about 550 students and only two tested positive."

[Suetaznote: Wow, it's an epidemic! 2 tested positive, better increase the drug testing!]

"That's less than half of one percent."

But authors of a University of Michigan study say testing programs can't do their jobs without being too expensive or crossing the line of a child's privacy. After watching nearly 800 schools over four years, researchers say testing policies may even have negative effects such as keeping some kids away from sports.

"They've been warned way in advance," Yancey argues. "They've got a month to 'clean up' -- if you will -- between now and the fall or whenever their sport starts."

Under the current proposal a student who tests positive will sit the bench for one week -- and then full year for a second offense. The board will vote on the policy next month.


Mike Price can be reached at mprice@wcjb.com.

__________________