Student Opinion Should high school students be drug tested? Schools are making the choice to drug test their students. Is this an act to improve the environment or a breach of the 4th amendment ? A student buying drugs on school grounds Date: January 24th 2020 .If you are a student, the prospect of being drug tested sounds terrifying. If you are a teacher, knowing the environment in which you work in might make you feel safer. In 2002 the supreme court ruled it legal for a school to drug test any athletes or students involved in a competition based extra curricular. The question still lies in whether or not schools can ethically drug test their students. It’s no surprise that nothing in life is free and drug tests are not an exception to this rule. Urine based drug tests, which are often the ones being used, can cost anywhere from thirty to sixty dollars per test.1 That number is already alarmingly high but considering that public highschools often have classes toppling the 300 students mark the total price of conducting these tests gets exponentially higher2. A school district in Carroll county Georgia , like many other public school districts, are strapped for cash. Aside from the usual federal and local funding, the district gets an additional $20,000 a year to spend how it sees fit. The renovation of a few classrooms, purchase of a handful of computers, or a whole bunch of textbooks are all things that can be done/bought with $20,000. The district however has decided to test 80 students a month and with the tests being ~$30 the extra funding is completely spent within a school year3 While it is difficult to dismiss the feeling of added security that comes with testing the student body, it would be reckless to neglect placing that funding elsewhere. The potential growth of extra curricular activities due to added funding can be another way to promote a pro-social culture at school. This is an important issue to consider because liberal arts programs within public schools already have a reputation of getting less funding than sports4. This could be the chance to change that impression and give all the students the same degree of opportunity to pursue extracurricular activities despite their difference in interests. 1 https://www.northpointrecovery.com/blog/drug-testing-explained-cost-devices-privacy-accuracy/ 2 https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/04/27/schools-drug-tests-costly-ineffectiveand-more-common-than-you-think/ 4 https://www.mlive.com/opinion/kalamazoo/2008/12/should_schools_equally_fund_ar.html The concept of cheating has existed as long as students have. When confronted with the need to present a urine sample, students who would test positive for drug use will take the means necessary to not get the lid blown on them. This obstacle will cause the students to adapt and use another student’s pee to pass said drug test. Continuous usage of the test will lead students to use other drugs, alcohol, or synthetic marijuana that wouldn’t show up in the test. While a school’s administration will use the excuse of wanting to intervene and offer the needed therapy to students abusing drugs, the story more often than not goes like this: a school starts to drug tests students, the school finds a student guilty of abusing drugs, that student is expelled from said school 5. In an effort to “intervene” and offer “therapy” the school has instead driven the practice deeper underground thus making it harder to track and find. We often don’t consider how the actions of the school board can affect the relationship between teacher/administration and student. If a school begins to drug test their students a sense of mistrust is immediately created between the student body and the governing administration team6. It is often the case that these schools encourage students to speak to a teacher that they feel comfortable with and now that too has been compromised. Were a student to accidentally let on that they have been under the influence recently, the teacher is compelled to tell somebody of higher authority and let them handle the situation. This is an important issue because as the competitive nature of high school and even junior high escalates, students should feel comfortable with talking with a teacher or admin as a way to de escalate their stress. If that trust is broken and that feeling of comfort is taken away, how can the school board hopes to foster meaningful connections with these students. 5 6 https://www.centeronaddiction.org/the-buzz-blog/should-students-be-drug-tested-school https://www.aclu-wi.org/en/news/student-drug-testing-intrusive-unnecessary-and-ineffective From an adult perspective, it can be difficult to decipher why teens do drugs. Drug tests certainly don’t help to get to the bottom of the mystery. The flaw of using said test lies in thinking that drugs are the core problem 7. It’s not uncommon to find a student who suffers from depression, social anxiety, or a stress-related disorder. Using drugs is often a way to lessen these feelings of distress. Most of the time it’s the stress that comes from a competition driven society that causes the cycle of drug use in students. On the same note, some students may turn to certain drugs to demonstrate their academic and or athletic prowess8. Stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin are commonly taken and although research as shown that students who abuse stimulants actually have a lower GPA in highschool and in college than those then don't9 students are under the impression that they are necessary to succeed. Other students who don’t use drugs because of a mental disorder or to increase performance are prone to using drugs based on their surrounding community. Something that is rampant in low-income ethnic neighborhoods is the tolerance to and usage of drugs. Said community can play a great influence in somebody’s decision to use drugs10. On the same note, an argument can be made towards the disproportionate impact drug tests can have on students of color. Because a student of color is more likely to use drugs compared to their caucasian counterparts11, the repremendation that comes after testing positive will be heavily sided towards the students of color. This can even enact discrimination behaviors by those who don’t undergo the shame that someone who tested positive does. This is an extremely important issue because these tests can expose a trend that feeds into the stereotype that people of color and the usage of drugs are linked. While those who support drug testing mean well it is proven that intervention programs like D.A.R.E fail in making a lasting impact on teenagers.12 7 8 https://www.health-street.net/blog-drug-testing/should-high-school-students-be-drug-tested/ https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/principles-adolescent-substance-use-disorder-treatment-r esearch-based-guide/frequently-asked-questions/why-do-adolescents-take-drugs 9 https://www.ctclearinghouse.org/customer-content/www/topics/5_myths_about_adhd_drugs.pdf 10 https://www.getsmartaboutdrugs.gov/family/why-do-teens-use-drugs 11 https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/31/health/hispanic-teen-drug-use/index.html 12 https://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/school_climate/drug_prevention_program_isnt_working.sh tml Like any other test that screens for substances, the chance of getting a false positive result is more common than you think. The urine tests that are usually used check for marijuana, alcohol, cocaine, barbiturates, methamphetamines, amphetamines, benzodiazepine, opioids, and more. While students who use said drugs would come out as a positive there is also another group of students with the same result. Poppy seeds are a food used in everything from bagels, to cake, to porridge. They are also used to treat diarrhea, constipation, and restlessness. If ingested 48 hours before the drug test occurs, the teen will test positive for opioids. The painkiller Ibuprofen is the most common drug used to stop pain and Inflammation. A study was recently done to test this pain killer and it’s likeliness to cause a false positive. A group of 60 students were prescribed Ibuprofen at different doses yet all yielded the same result. Those who ingested a dose between 800-1200 mg tested positive for marijuana while those who ingested lower amounts tested positive for barbiturates. For students who are depressed and are prescribed medication, the drug Sertraline is one of the most common antidepressants used. Ingesting Sertraline ,however, would cause a false positive for Benzodiazepine due to their similar chemical structures. Even the use of baby soap such as Johnson & Johnson would cause a false positive for marijuana. Investigation is still ongoing but scientists believe some of the soap ingredients contain the same chemical structure as THC. Foods that are high in yeast such as pizza are also unsafe. As the yeast ferments, ethanol is created as a byproduct and test positive for alcohol usage. Granola bars aren’t safe either as most contain hemp seed which results in a positive for marijuana. It seems like with all the things that could cause a false positive, everybody is at risk of drawing a false positive. If a student gets a false positive and would like to dispute the results, further testing is required to reach a clear answer. This issue is vastly important because drug tests are far less fool proof than most think and getting any positive result puts the student in an uncomfortable position next to their peers. In general, high school students shouldn’t be drug tested due to the fact that the acquisition of this test cost a quantity of money that may be used for other school purposes. At the same time, this act can provoke students to feel insecure about what they do in their free time because it’s not school related. Being drug tested can change the way students act or interact with people because they believe that the privacy they once had has been violated. As time passes by, the school laws may change but the position on whether students should be drug tested or not is going to depend on the students, however they shouldn't agree with this position. There’s a big controversy about this situation and we may do what we think is the best for our health.
