Sunday, August 22, 1999
Drug tests grow popular with schools
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — More Kentucky schools are testing their student athletes for drugs despite uncertainty over whether such monitoring really is a deterrent.
According to the Kentucky School Boards Association, at least 17 of the state's 176 school districts conducted drug tests last year.
As school violence becomes more prevalent, districts are seeking ways not only to improve school safety but also to identify students in trouble. Many school boards see drug testing as a way to do that.
Paris Independent School District began testing athletes this year and appears to be Kentucky's first district that tests middle school athletes.
The Bourbon County school board is expected to approve a plan next month to test all athletes, including cheerleaders and dance team members, beginning next school year. And the Harlan County school board has proposed testing all students suspected of drug use and is exploring random testing of teachers. Both plans would be firsts for Kentucky.
Bourbon County's plan doesn't target troubled kids as much as it hopes to keep good kids out of trouble, board member Jeff Thompson said. The possibility of a drug test gives teens some support when they are being pressured to use drugs, he said.
“For those that need an out, this would give them that opportunity.”
Dr. Richard Blondell, a medical specialist in treating addiction and a professor at the University of Louisville, said anyone thinking that testing will halt teen drug use is mistaken.
Dr. Blondell said young people drawn to drugs are attracted in part by the risk. Adding the threat of a drug test simply makes doing drugs more risky, he said, and therefore more attractive.
Bourbon County board member Karen Osborne said she knows there is no concrete evidence to back up drug testing. She simply thinks it's the right thing to do.
But according to Graham Boyd, who litigates drug issues for the American Civil Liberties Union, there is another problem. Most tests, he said, target those in extracurricular activities. Studies show that teens involved in such activities four hours a week are 50 percent less likely to do drugs as less-involved counterparts.
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