[cpnichol]

Since a 2002 Supreme Court ruling that schools were allowed to drug test school students taking part in extracurricular activities, the number of schools doing so has quickly increased. It is not just in the US that drug testing students happens, a school in the UK has also introduced random drugs testing, and in Australia a bill was proposed that would require mandatory drugs testing of all state school pupils over the age of 14.

The supporters of drugs testing in schools say that the tests send out an important message to students and also provide them with a valid reason for saying no to drugs. They also point to studies conducted on the increase or reported drug use after the withdrawl of a state wide testing scheme and to a US Department Of Defence survey showing that drug use among military personnel dropped from 27 percent to 1 after the introduction of random drugs testing.

So if it cuts the the amount of drug use amongst school pupils it has to be a good idea, right? Not everyone agrees.

A survey of 359 US physicians specialising in paediatric, adolescent and family medicine, showed that 80% either disagreed or strongly disagreed with a recommendation that all adolescent students be tested for drugs. There have been relatively few in depth studies on the effectiveness of drugs testing in schools and of those two studies, one shows no correlation between drugs testing and drug use and the other only a slight decline.

Not only are there doubts about the effectiveness of these tests in deterring drug use amongst students, there are also doubts about the actual tests themselves.

A recent study found that out of 710 drug tests performed, 85 gave incorrect results, thats nealry 12%. This means that those using drugs may not test positive and that there are also circumstatnces where someone who does not use drugs could test positive. If the school is being federally funded they are required a positive test must be checked by a lab, but this only applies to federally funded tests.

Personally I do not like the idea of drugs testing in schools, not just because the evidence for it being effective at reducing drug use is patchy at best ,or that the tests themselves are not that reliable. I suppose my objection is mainly that it is none of their damn business what their students get up to when they are not at school, unless it directly involves the school.

What's more the expansion of these programs, like the one proposed in Australia, could lead to the compulsory drug testing of a whole age group. I cannot imagine any government trying to drug test say all 20-25 year olds, there would be outrage at the suggestion. But because the people involved are too young to vote it somehow seems acceptable.

What do you think? I know some of you go to school, do you get tested? I know some of you are parents too, are you ok with your children being drugs tested?
I got the figures from New Scientist, so blame them if they are wrong[:-].