Study: Schools Drug Test Students Despite Lack of Evidence
Thurs, Aug 28, 2003
Schools are randomly drug testing students without evidence to show that drug testing actually deters student drug use, according to a recent study published in the Journal of Law and Education.
The study was intended to examine the impact of the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision which ruled in favor of allowing schools to conduct suspicionless drug testing of students participating in any extra-curricular activity. The research surveyed ten schools in a Midwestern city and found that three of the schools decided to implement suspicionless drug testing as a result of the decision. Based largely on the principals’ attitude to drug testing, all students enrolled in extra-curricular activities at the three schools were subject to random urine analysis despite the lack of evidence supporting the efficacy of drug testing.
“Although intuition may suggest that testing will be a deterrent, little research has been conducted to find out if this is so,” the report suggested. “What is surprising is that only one principal (“the skeptic”) seemed at all concerned about this lack of research.”
Recently, the largest nationwide study of student drug testing involving 76,000 students across the country published its results in the Journal of School Health. No difference was found between the drug use rates of students at schools that have drug testing programs and those that do not. The study points to research that demonstrates that the strongest predictor of student drug use is students’ attitudes toward drug use and perceptions of peer use. Researchers recommend that “to prevent harmful student behaviors such as drug use, school policies that address these key values, attitudes, and perceptions may prove more important in drug prevention than drug testing.”
Schools should be safe and trusting learning environments - suspicionless drug testing programs makes this impossible.
http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/c...u=37020&l=4437
08-30-2003, 08:42 AM
Study: Schools Drug Test Students Despite Lack of Evidence
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