Drug Testing In Schools

In many high schools around the country, student athletes are using drugs. “The percent of students that have drunk alcohol is 72.5% while the number of students who have used marijuana is 36.8%” (Report: Nearly Half of High School Students Using Drugs, Alcohol). The students believe that since they are athletes that they do not need to abide by the rules because they feel more superior and that the narcotic will not hurt or affect them. Implementing random drug tests for athletes will create a positive image and not hurt others or themselves. Schools need to have drug tests for student athletes because drugs effect relationships, using drugs have consequences, and lastly they have a major effect on the body.

After years of delays, rising tensions and hours of discussion, a proposal to randomly drug-test Zionsville High School students was approved Monday night.The Zionsville School Board voted 3-2 in favor of the new policy which requires any students who elect to participate in extracurricular activities or park on school property to consent to random drug tests.Students who fail a drug test will be required to enter and complete a drug counseling program.The approved plan is a variation of one supported years ago by the Zionsville Student Rights Union. They also proposed that only students who park or participate in afterschool programs be tested, but the union plan wanted students to face no consequences at school, and for positive results to

Slowly pushing students to become addicts, drug testing high school student athletes may or may not be to blame. In Facts & Statistics on Random Drug Testing of High School Students, Dr. M.H. Davis stated, “In the early 1990s, many school districts began to look into drug testing as a way to curb student drug use, which led to two U.S. Supreme Court cases involving student privacy. The court upheld the constitutionality of drug testing student athletes in 1995, and in 2002, the court expanded high school drug testing policies to include all students who participate in a competitive extracurricular activity. In those rulings, the court stated deterring student drug use was more important than privacy” (Davis). Drug testing high school athletes

However, drug testing is constitutional and has proven to be useful nationwide in America. A simple search on the World Wide Web will unveil the truth about the constitutionality of drug testing in America. Two major cases from Supreme Court, Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton and Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County, et al, Petitioners v. Lindsay Earls et al, involved the challenging of officials’ ability to drug test students in order to participate in extracurricular activities. In both cases, the ruling resulted in a majority declaring these test requirements to be constitutional (“Prevention”). Along with the fact that testing has held its constitutionality in Supreme Court, evaluations have proven that the testing process effectively minimizes drug use among high school students in extracurricular activities. “Some 16 percent of students subject to drug testing reported using substances...in the past 30 days, compared with 22 percent of comparable students in schools without the program (‘The Effectiveness’).” This fact means that six percent less students in the high schools studied were not using drugs in the schools which had been implementing the drug tests. If this same number would be a proportionate reflection of all high schools in America, six percent more of high school students - about 3.3 million teenagers - would not be utilizing drugs and contracting the painful consequences later in life (“Fast Facts”). That is a humongous number which means a humongous number of kids would be drug-free, living healthier lives with even brighter futures. The constitutional drug testing in high school athletics could save over 3 million kids from having to endure possible years of life with painful illnesses like cancer during

Do you know someone who is a student athlete? What would you think if he/she consumed illegal drugs? What would you do if you found out he/she died from drugs? Student athletes are not aware of the long-term consequences of consuming drugs in their life. Adults need to step up and approach student athletes about the danger of the impact it can have on their life. Many student athletes will consume drugs in their teenage years to improve their performance in the sports they play. Athletes are not educated well enough in high school about the harm that a drug can do to their body. While drug testing invades the athlete's personal life, every high school should drug test their student athletes before

Bowman, Darcia Harris. "Student Drug Testing Gathers Prominent Support." Education Week 23.3 (2003): 1-17. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.

In the United States, 27.2 percent of high school student participated in illicit drug use. While this number has lowered in the past two decades, dug use among teens is still a large issue. To combat this problem many schools have opted to drug test their students. Schools do have the right to drug test their students but there are constitutional limits in which a school can require mandatory drug testing. The constitutional limits include; health risks and personal injury risks.

1. "Drug Testing of Middle-School Students May Help Prevent Substance Abuse: Study." Partnership for Drug Free Kids. N.p., 8 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. .

In 1995 the Supreme Court stated that schools could randomly drug test their athletic students. By 2008, 16 percent of school districts had started to take on some kind of drug testing program (John 2). Even though the Supreme Court has a certain amount of ruling on who is tested at the schools, some schools have expanded their range of students, a few going all the way to the whole student body (John 2/3). One of the main reasons the supreme court ruled towards testing the student athletes is because they are supposed to be seen as the role models and influencers of the school, and outside the school. Seeing athletes doing drugs might increase the drug use of the school. (John 3). Student

After examining the issues surrounding drug testing students and teachers at the school, I disagree that students and teachers should not be tested. One reason I maintain this positive is that students should not be drug tested so they won’t feel peer pressure. In the article, testing the limits, Peter V. emphasize that drug testing in schools argues that it helps teens fight the pressure to use drugs. As a teen, I have firsthand experience with my friend drinking. However student’s won’t listen, they will still do drugs. In contrast, they agree that students should not be drug tested. Peter V. analysis of testing the limits in positively Negative Results has strengthened my perspective that the students should not be drug tested because drug

Drug testing, or DT, is considered to be any test administered to detect the presence of drugs, usually illegal substances, from a blood or urine sample. Major applications include the use to detect performance enhancing drugs in competitive athletes, employment screening used to filter candidates for hiring, and is often used by police to detect alcohol levels in drivers suspected of drunk driving. Historically, it has been applied to incriminate those suspected of consumption of illicit narcotic substances and also to confirm suspicions of illegal drug use, while individuals in sporting events undergo mandatory testing is implemented to catch those looking for a chemical upper hand to win in their sport or discipline. Yet the use of DT in the schools is becoming a far more common practice. Instead of using it to prove one’s guilt, they are being adopted as a deterrent for recreational drug usage in American youths by instilling fear that a positive test would force students to be excluded from participating in extracurricular activities that they so cherish. In the early 2000’s during a State of Union Address, President Bush stated that student DT is a proven and effective way to prevent substance abuse in adolescent students and it “is not to punish children, but to send them this message: we love you, and we don’t want to lose you” (Stuart 1057). In support of President Bush, the federal government spent over 18 million dollars on

Have you ever personally experienced Random Drug Testing? Many people have different views on the topic. The bottom line is that it is important and may help students stray away from the type of lifestyle they may endure while abusing specific substances. The simplicity of random drug testing could change someone’s life for the better, to begin what is the scientific definition of Drug Testing? How does it work? Drug Testing is the biological analysis of a specific specimen on a human body to determine if the use of drugs or other illicit substances are present. Although there is complications with the physical drug test, we can help to overcome it and help students in high school at a young age save their future. Random Drug Testing in high

Many high schools across the country have brought much attention to the idea of giving random drug tests to students in high school. The newfound interest in student drug testing may be as a result of recent polls, which have shown an increase in drug use among high school students. Many teachers, parents, and members of school comities are for the drug testing, while most students and some parents feel that this would be a violation of students rights as Americans, which is true.

The big controversy right now within the government and high schools is whether or not random drug testing should be legal in schools. There are many reasons why it should not be legalized, one reason being it goes against the fourth amendment. Why should we have testing in schools when many major health organizations oppose it? All it will do is make teens turn to other illegal and counterproductive things. These are many reasons why drug testing should not be allowed in high schools.

It seems that drugs have become a major epidemic within teenagers in the last few years. There is only so much that can be done to try and eliminate drug use, while not dramatically changing anything in the community. Drug testing the district’s student athletes provides many reasons that it is a worthwhile expense. Lawyers, Mark Vetter and Daniel Chanen, stated in the Sports Law Institute Newsletter “First, student-athletes were the leaders of the drug culture” (Vetter and Chanen ¶3). This simple statement proves that athletes need to be drug tested; it will improve multiple circumstances within the district and the lives of athletes. Drug testing student athletes at the high school level is a step every school district needs to take in order to improve their schools, and the students’ lifestyles despite the high price tag on these tests.