School Drug Testing » random drug testing http://www.schooldrugtesting.org Thu, 10 Feb 2011 03:16:46 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 Bernards school board considers random-drug-testing program http://www.schooldrugtesting.org/2010/07/bernards-school-board-considers-random-drug-testing-program.html http://www.schooldrugtesting.org/2010/07/bernards-school-board-considers-random-drug-testing-program.html#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 12:10:10 +0000 School Drug Testing http://www.schooldrugtesting.org/?p=62 Bernards school board may allow parents of Ridge High School students to place their child in a pool for random drug testing, according to a report from the Daily Record.

The proposal would allow parents to decide if children who signed up for an extra curricular activity or for parking privileges would be allowed to be [...]]]> Bernards school board may allow parents of Ridge High School students to place their child in a pool for random drug testing, according to a report from the Daily Record.

The proposal would allow parents to decide if children who signed up for an extra curricular activity or for parking privileges would be allowed to be tested, but at least one parent expressed concern that the voluntary program would eventually become mandatory if people participated. NJ.com community members are reacting to the news.

From box211:

” ‘One parent at the meeting expressed concern that the voluntary program would eventually become mandatory if people participated’

“Huh? What is the downside to this? There should be no problem unless the kids are using drugs, no? Do they want their kids to have the option to use drugs and still participate in school.”

NJ.com member upnatem had this to say:

“Schools shouldn’t be drug testing students, they should be educating them. In a time when schools can’t fund what’s needed for education, why in the heck are they spending money on drug testing? It’s a school, not a prison. Oh, I forgot. The companies that sell the test kits stand to make a lot of money. And the drug counselors, rehab programs, etc. all stand to make big money too.”

Via: nj.com

]]> http://www.schooldrugtesting.org/2010/07/bernards-school-board-considers-random-drug-testing-program.html/feed 0 Pros and Cons of School Drug Testing http://www.schooldrugtesting.org/2010/01/pros-and-cons-of-school-drug-testing.html http://www.schooldrugtesting.org/2010/01/pros-and-cons-of-school-drug-testing.html#comments Thu, 07 Jan 2010 01:29:56 +0000 School Drug Testing http://www.schooldrugtesting.org/?p=10 The debate rages on about whether or not school drug testing should be allowed with those in favor of it saying it is likely to curb the increasing use of drugs in school and those not in favor justifying it by declaring it is a violation of a student’s privacy. Let’s take a look at [...]]]> The debate rages on about whether or not school drug testing should be allowed with those in favor of it saying it is likely to curb the increasing use of drugs in school and those not in favor justifying it by declaring it is a violation of a student’s privacy. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of school drugs testing

Pros:

  • Helps teens to get drug counseling and treatment if they are already using drugs. This is the main purpose of drug testing to help these kids to stop using and get back on track.

  • Helps reduce drug use and sale in schools. Random drug testing acts as a deterrent to most users and dealers of drugs.

  • Offers teens a reason to say no to offers of drug use. Knowing that they might get in trouble gives kids incentive and random drug testing gives them the ability to say no with a reason that can be called valid even by an insistent individual.
  • Gets kids help who may not otherwise have been suspected of drug use. Not all users are obvious and often the less obvious ones face serious addiction that could have been averted if caught early.

Cons:

  • Can be considered an invasion of the student’s privacy despite most schools’ privacy policies for drug testing.

  • Can cost a lot of money, which some schools do not have. Not all school have excess funding to afford random drug screening and therefore may not do testing or limit it so severely that it proves to be ineffective.

  • Many of those tested are likely to be negative for drug use so that testing may seem redundant. Many schools have a large number of students that can be tested but inevitably there will be far fewer positive tests than negative, which means that a lot of money has gone into futile and fruitless testing that could have gone into other projects.

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