Student Drug Testing Policy
The Office of National Drug Control Policy urges more schools
to begin student drug testing programs as a supplement to existing drug
prevention measures. 
The
President's fiscal year 2006 budget proposed more money for student drug
testing programs, which is an increase of several million dollars over the
previous year. Three years have passed since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed
schools to drug test students and the White House Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP) is seeking to implement more drug testing programs
throughout the nation.
In his 2004 State of the Union Address the
President said, "One of the worst decisions children can make is to gamble
their lives and futures on drugs." He continued to explain that, "The aim here
is not to punish children, but to send them this message: We love you, and we
don't want to lose you."
Student drug testing has been a controversial
topic over the last few years as it is viewed by some individuals and groups to
be an invasion of privacy, however the negative impact that substance abuse has
on society cannot be ignored. School administrators and teachers continue to
work with community leaders, parents and prevention programs to curb adolescent
drug abuse. Recent data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health claims
that some of these efforts seem to be working by citing that illicit drug use
among youth has continued to decline over the last few years.
The
student drug testing initiative provides competitive grants to support schools
in the design and implementation of programs to randomly screen selected
students and to intervene with assessment, referral, and intervention for
students whose test results indicate they have used illicit drugs.
Four
Regional Drug Testing Summits were held to help educate interested officials on
the process. The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that in
addition to creating a culture of disapproval toward drugs in the communities
where it is employed, student drug testing also achieves three public health
goals:
1) it deters children from initiating drug use;
2) it
identifies children who have just started using drugs so that parents and
counselors can intervene early; and
3) it helps identify children who have
a dependency on drugs so that they can be referred to effective drug treatment.
Drug prevention programs are aimed at protecting kids from behavior
that destroys bodies and minds, impedes academic performance, and creates
barriers to success and happiness. Whether or not student drug testing is an
effective measure that contributes to the overall purpose of prevention and
education has yet to be determined.
© 2009 Drug-Free Alliance