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While school drug testing has recently become a huge topic of debate in the courts, in schools, and among the general public, until recently there has not been any conclusive research on whether drug testing is effective in addressing student drug use and how widespread testing is in schools.
A study published in April in the Journal of School Health, a peer-reviewed publication of the American School Health Association, found no statistical difference regarding rates of drug use between schools that implemented drug testing policies and those that had not. Analyzing data collected between 1998 and 2001 from 76,000 students in 8th, 10th and 12th grades, the study found that drug testing of any kind was not a significant predictor of marijuana or other illicit drug use by students, including athletes.
The study concludes that “drug testing in schools may not provide a panacea for reducing student drug use that some (including some on the Supreme Court) had hoped…To prevent harmful student behaviors such as drug use, school policies that address…key values, attitudes, and perceptions may prove more important in drug prevention than drug testing.”
The study also found that the percentages of schools adopting drug testing policies between 1998 and 2001 was relatively low, with only 18 percent of schools implementing drug testing policies, the majority focusing on those who are suspected of using drugs. Suspicionless drug testing was far less common: less than five percent of schools in the study drug tested athletes, and only two percent of schools drug tested students in extracurricular activities.
The research in this study supports the opinion of doctors, social workers and education professionals—many of whom submitted friend-of-the-court briefs supporting the ACLU’s court challenges—that students and student athletes should not be singled out for involuntary screening for drugs. As a policy matter, violating students’ rights while doing nothing to reduce the amount of drug use in schools makes little sense; other studies have demonstrated that the single best way to prevent drug use among students is to engage them in extra-curricular activities.
The study was financed by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. One of the lead researchers of the study is Dr. Lloyd D. Johnston of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, who is also a senior researcher of the Monitoring the Future survey, the leading national survey that documents trends in student drug use and attitudes about drugs.
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