Some schools’ drug tests exceed high court ruling

Despite Supreme Court sanctions that limit random drug tests in schools, some U.S. school districts subject all students to testing, researchers reported Tuesday.

Their study found that an estimated 14 percent of U.S. school districts used random drug testing during the 2004-2005 school year. Nearly all of these schools drug-tested student athletes, while two-thirds tested students in other extracurricular activities as well.

More than one-quarter, however, made all students subject to random drug tests. This is despite the fact that a 2002 Supreme Court ruling sanctioned random drug testing only for students in extracurricular activities.

School districts that randomly test all students or certain groups, like students who drive to school, “may be placing themselves in a legally vulnerable position,” the researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

Dr. Chris Ringwalt, a senior scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, led the study.

Supporters of random drug testing in schools argue that it deters students from trying drugs, and helps get those who are abusing drugs into treatment. But opponents say that testing students without suspicion of drug use violates their right to privacy, and the notion of school-wide drug testing is particularly controversial.

Until now, it has been unclear how many U.S. school districts use random drug testing, according to Ringwalt’s team. “Given the national attention to random drug testing of students and the relative lack of information on its extent, our purpose was to establish an estimate of its prevalence,” Ringwalt told Reuters Health.

As for the schools that randomly tested all students, he said it “may make sense, from a prevention perspective, for schools that conduct random testing to test all students.”

It’s the students who do not participate in extracurricular activities that may be at greater risk of drug abuse, Ringwalt noted.

However, school districts that go beyond the Supreme Court sanctions could be setting themselves up for legal problems, the researchers point out.

“Whatever policy schools adopt in regards to random drug testing,” Ringwalt said, “it should be clearly stated and made available to both students and their parents, so that everyone is fully aware of who is—and who is not—covered by the policy.”

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, May 2008.