Schools Should Not Have Drug Testing Persuasive Essay

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.

Drugs in sports is becoming a problem everywhere. “Another 26-year old athlete died of liver cancer after taking a number of different types of steroids over a four year period ” (Drugs and…). This is significant because this shows how dangerous drugs can be. If we have drug testing in schools this student could still be alive and would have stopped drugs before it got bad. The evidence points to the fact that drugs are a major health risk that is very concerning. In some cases taking drugs can even lead to death. In addition, another situation took place that affected a college student named Bob. Bob tried everything to gain weight so he could play football, so he chose to try steroids like everyone else. Steroids got him to play professional football, but horrible things were happening to him. He was having serious health problems. Bob quit drugs and is lucky to be alive (Drugs and…). This connects to the fact that doing drugs is a major

Mandatory Drug testing within schools reverses the legal principle of innocent until proven guilty and also violates the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the Constitution. Without suspicion of drug use, there is no probable cause to test student-athletes for drugs, thus violating the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unlawful searches. Drug testing student-athletes without acquiring sufficient evidence to base accusations on, is essentially asking them to provide the evidence of their own guilt which violates the Fifth Amendment right to protect

Another issue of drug testing student athletes is that it is also known to be ineffective. Drug testing will not point out students who are facing drug abuse and will not be able to help them. Studies found no difference between drug use in schools with and without testing. “A 2003 study funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse – the largest of its kind – examined 94,000 students at 900 schools in the U.S. and found no difference between levels of drug use at schools that test their students and those that do not,” (Cosner). Drug use will still be existent in high schools. Studies conclude that drug use in schools that use testing and those that don’t. In fact, students may stop using drugs easy to detect like marijuana, and start using cocaine, heroin, and drugs similar to those. Students who really enjoy getting involved in sports, but have a strong attraction to drugs, may end up using harder drugs so they won’t get caught. As discussed in the article on The New York Times webpage,

Do we really want student-athletes replacing hard work with steroids? That’s like cheating on a test. For instance, many have been abusing drugs in a way to make their performance on the court or field better. This is a practice athletes have been in for years to make them a better player or asset to the team. All who are participating in athletics should be guaranteed a safe and fair game instead of worrying about those taking a daily dose of drugs for their own pleasure. These actions they are taking are not only dangerous and unfair, but illegal. For those who do participate in the consumption of drugs, their should be a formidable punishment. Although some uninformed people might say drug testing is an unnecessary waste of time and money,

Drug tests need to happen and they are very important to sporting events. Say a person has a “buzz” from nicotine that could come from dipping tobacco or smoking cigarettes, is in a football game. Their mind could be tired or weakened from the nicotine and could get hurt severely bad. Or if a guy took steroids before a football game, he is putting himself and others in danger of getting hurt badly. According to New York Times, steroid use is very high in football players, weight lifters, and sometimes even baseball players. If you

Steroids are the single most abused performance-enhancing substance in the history of sports. As popular as the drug may be, the DEA listed anabolic steroids as a controlled substance under the Controlled Substance Act in 1990: meaning steroids can only be prescribed by a medical professional (Parks 12). Steroids are not only creating a poor image of professional sports, they also set a terrible example for the athletic, competitive youth of this generation. Children venerate their role models - like Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds - and think the only way to be as successful as they are is to do as they do: use steroids. What the youth are too naïve to consider is that steroids do not improve agility, skill or cardiovascular capacity, and can prematurely stunt growth and destroy the liver of adolescents (ESPN). While the effects on the youth cannot be ignored, the everlasting effects on sports themselves leave a tarnished sense of distrust. Dr. Paul Finkelman stated, “Steroids undermine the integrity [of the game] by placing in doubt the skill of players, as fans assume that homers are hit because of steroids, not skill” (ProCon). The problem with making a stricter Performance Enhancing Drug (PED) testing policy is that if one substance becomes too recognizable, there will always be new, untested drugs which can cause more harm to one’s body than steroids ever would (Ropp). Random drug testing has proven successful in the past, but tests are very expensive and can sometimes be

One of the reasons why having drug tests on student athletes in not beneficial because of the Cost of them. In the past years, America has spent a lot of money and fundings on drug testing. In the article “ Guilty Until Proven Innocent”, they said that George W. Bush has spent 23 million dollars on drug testing from federal funding (McLure). The thing that bothers people is that America is spending so much money on drug testing. Most of the time that people do drug testing, it's just a waste of time because most people are innocent. While the government is spending that money on drug testing, they could be spending that money on other beneficial things for the country. They could even give that money to the veterans who risked their life for the country that are now in poverty. In the same article, the University of Michigan conducted a survey and they found that drug use when testing and not testing were identical (McLure). This also shows that drug testing is a waste of time and that they are making an investment on something not beneficial. Even when the school advisors say it's not that much money, it all adds up across America. If the cost was way cheaper, drug tests would be a little more agreeable. Drug tests are a waste of time and are a waste of money. Lots of people just think that drug tests just say if someone is positive or if someone is negative. They never think what's going through students mind before and after the test.

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

Teenagers everywhere use drugs. They are using them in school too. Students also use them to perform better in High School athletics. They mainly use a type of drug called steroids. They are not healthy for you if you are not prescribed for them. They are also illegal. It also makes a disadvantage to other athletes. If schools don’t know that their athletes are using drugs, their health will get worse and make extreme disadvantages to the other players. High schools need to know if their students are using drugs. That is why there should be mandatory drug testing in high school athletics.

However from the point of view of a teacher, parent or whoever is for the testing, it is done to protect the students. Many children or young adults that experiment with drugs do not understand what the drugs can do to their minds and bodies. With the testing schools will be able to determine which students need help and can better focus on treatment, and helping the student to understand the consequences of their actions not necessarily disciplinary but on the issue of health. As far as helping the students goes it is much easier to teach the students about drugs when it is known which students are doing them or have tried them. Time will not have to be wasted by explaining, "why drugs should not be taken" to a student that is taking them wile they could focus on treatment to deter the student from taking them.

They have to balance school, homework, get a healthy amount of sleep, extra-curricular activities, have a social life, and spend time with their family, they have a lot of things to balance and sometimes they can’t take it all. Ordinarily, some students feel the need to do drugs, as a pain or stress reliever. Some use to stimulate, because they can’t stay awake. Shouldn’t students be able to get the correct medication, not having to turn to illegal substances? Schools should drug test for that very reason, teens sometimes need help, and if a drug test is positive, they get the chance to go to a rehabilitation center, to get the correct medication, to get that help. Often students don’t get that help, and what happens? A possible overdose? An accident under the influence? In the article school drug testing “Teenagers are most likely to abuse drugs.” Teens make up a little over fifty percent of drug abusers!

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.

Introducing the fear to students on drug testing that will directly affect them, will most likely decrease the use of drugs being abused. The president of the Institute for Behavior and Health explains that RSDT (Random Student Drug Test) could be used on any athlete, any day, and any time without notice (DuPont et al ¶6). Making the testing random will help eliminate any cheating or strategizing that the students who would test positive could be doing. Keith Ablow, MD and psychiatrist published an article in 2011 said that, both varsity and junior varsity teams should be tested with results kept private (¶6). To only test Varsity athletes would be unacceptable because JV athletes could cause just as much harm to athletes around them as to themselves. To make it fair and because kids follow by example, coaches would test also (Ablow ¶ 9). When a positive test appears, there should be punishment, but not to the extent of expulsion. Guidelines to RSDT programs say it is not supposed to end up in punishment for drug tests (DuPont et al ¶25). Not giving any punishment would defeat the purpose because then kids would not care to stop their drug use. Random drug tests to not only student-athletes, but students in general will promote a healthier lifestyle without drug use (DuPont et al ¶5). Students should be on edge not knowing if they are going to be tested or

Imagine walking into work and seeing a new co-worker acting weird, or precisely showing signs of drug use and to have no clue about it. Is it not that person’s right to know that he/she will be sharing the same environment as someone who frequently practices drug use? On the other hand, The Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) recognizes that addictions to drug and alcohol are considered ‘disabilities,’ meaning those who practice drug and alcohol use are in their right to not be discriminated or judged based on their ‘disability’ and instead accommodated. This issues remains controversial to this day since every organization or individual has its own situation that emphasis drug tests and their repercussions differently. Some organizations just simply cannot be bothered to spend time and money on drug tests while others have a hard time drawing the line between what are the ethical approaches to positive drug tests. Currently, random testing of current staff in an organization without an approved written drug policy is not legal and will not be upheld by courts in Canada. This was settled by the Supreme Court in June of 2013. However, pre-employment testing of job candidates should be allowed in the workplace and be upheld by courts at any time as it is the utilitarian practice for any organization and its stakeholders.