Monday, March 5, 2007

Drug testing kids is not a good idea

It is not a fairly new thing to have a child drug tested by the school that they go to or by a medical professional. Parents and schools have been doing drug testing for a long time. I know of schools today that if a child is caught doing drugs, even if they do not do it on campus, the school has the right to drug test them at random.
Now I am not one to tell children to say do drugs, but a new study came out that doctors said that drug testing is a bad idea. For one, the tests are not very accurate and could lead to a lot of false positives. If the student takes certain cold medications or eats poppy seeds, a drug test could turn up positive.
How reliable is a test that cannot determine the difference between cough medication and other drugs. I think it is ridiculous to hold a child’s academic future hostage by a test that unreliable.
Also, lots of illegal drugs are indictable in urine more than 72 hours after use and standard tests do not detect substances like alcohol, Ecstasy and inhalants. In fact, the study suggested that some students may respond to testing by avoiding marijuana, which is one of the easier drugs to test for and go for one of the more dangerous but less-detectable types of drugs. I do not have kids but I can tell you that I would much have rather have them do pot than Ecstasy.
Also, drug testing leads a student to a scenario of mistrust, depression and anger. According to the story, students will have an unhealthy suspicion of authority figures, always wonder why nobody trusts them and begin to be upset with those who are putting them through this, which is not health either.
I think openness and honesty are the most important thing when dealing with a student. I do think that it is good and healthy for a child to experience certain things, just as long as they do it in a safe environment. I do not think constant testing is the way to deal with this.

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