The
Bush administration's
2007 budget proposes to
increase random
drug testing of high-school students by 50 percent. The program would
cost $15 million.
However, is there
evidence that drug testing actually reduces drug use among students who
never think they are going to get caught at anything? Slate.com went after the story:
Officials from the federal drug czar's office are crisscrossing the country to sell the testing to school districts.
Yet,
according to the two major studies that have been conducted on student
testing, it doesn't actually reduce drug use. "Of most importance, drug
testing still is found not to be associated with students' reported
illicit drug use -- even random testing that potentially subjects the
entire student body," determined the authors of the most recent study.
It
seems like common sense that if students are warned they could be
caught getting high any day in school, they'd be less likely to risk
it. And principals and the drug czar's office argue that this random
chance "gives kids a reason to say no." But teens are notorious for
assuming that nothing bad will happen to them. Sure, some people get caught, but not me.
In addition, a student who chooses to do drugs already has more than a
random chance of getting caught -- adults are everywhere in this world.
The story pointed out:
And
since most schools test only students who do something more than just
show up for class -- like join an after-school club, park on campus or
play a sport -- kids can avoid the activities rather than quit puffing.
Testing may not change much more of the equation than that.
Such are the findings of two major studies.
What did the studies find?
The first study [PDF], published in early 2003, looked at 76,000 students in eighth, 10th, and 12th
grades in hundreds of schools, between the years 1998 and 2001. It was
conducted by Ryoko Yamaguchi, Lloyd Johnston and Patrick O'Malley out
of the University of Michigan, which also produces Monitoring the Future,
the university's highly regarded annual survey of student drug use,
which is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and whose
numbers the White House regularly cites.
That study said there
was no difference between drug-use rates in schools that test and those
who do not. Slate explained the second study:
The White House criticized the Michigan
study for failing to look at the efficacy of random testing. So,
Yamaguchi, Johnston and O'Malley added the random element and ran
their study again, this time adding data for the year 2002. The follow-up study,
published later in 2003, tracked 94,000 middle- and high-school
students. It reached the same results as its precursor. Even if drug
testing is done randomly and without suspicion, it's not associated
with a change in the number of students who use drugs in any category.
The Michigan follow-up found one exception: In schools that randomly tested students, 12th-graders were more likely to smoke marijuana.
I was particularly stuck by the stronger language in the follow-up study, which said [PDF]:
The two forms of drug
testing that are generally assumed to be most promising for reducing
student drug use -- random testing applied to all students, and testing
of athletes -- did not produce encouraging results.
High School Drug-Use Trends
As you think about whether or not to make kids take drug tests, the "Monitoring the Future" tracking [PDF]
that has been going on since 1975 shows thatthe increase in drug testing
comes at an interesting time. The latest data available shows that
most drug use among high-schoolers has declined or flattened out.
The government believed these numbers enough to put them on a government Web site:
Any illicit drug -- Thirty-day use of any illicit drug
decreased significantly among eighth-graders, from 9.7 percent in 2003
to 8.4 percent in 2004.
Inhalants -- Lifetime use of inhalants increased significantly among eighth-graders,
from 15.8 percent in 2003 to 17.3 percent in 2004, continuing an upward
trend in use noted among eighth-graders last year, after several years of
decline. Since 2001, there appears to be a gradual decline among eighth-graders in the perceived risk of using inhalants.
Prescription Drugs -- Annual use of Ritalin and Rohypnol remained statistically unchanged for all grades from 2003 to 2004. Annual use of Vicodin and OxyContin remained
stable among all grades, but at somewhat high levels. Annual
use of Vicodin was at 2.5 percent for eighth-graders, 6.2 percent for
10th-graders, and 9.3 percent for 12th-graders. Annual use of OxyContin
was at 1.7 percent for eighth-graders, 3.5 percent for 10th-graders,
and
5.0 percent for 12th-graders.
Marijuana -- Thirty-day use of marijuana was down significantly among eighth-graders,
from 7.5 percent in 2003 to 6.4 percent in 2004. Some strengthening of
attitudes against marijuana use also occurred among eighth- and
10th-graders.
MDMA (Ecstasy) -- Lifetime use of MDMA decreased significantly for 10th-graders, from
5.4 percent in 2003 to 4.3 percent in 2004. Some strengthening of
attitudes against use was seen among 10th- and 12th-graders. All grades
had decreases in the perception of the availability of MDMA.
Methamphetamine -- Use decreased significantly among eighth-graders, from 3.9 percent in
2003 to 2.5 percent in 2004 for lifetime use; from 2.5 percent in 2003
to 1.5 percent in 2004 for annual use; and from 1.2 percent in 2003 to
0.6 percent in 2004 for 30-day use.
GHB and Ketamine -- Significant decreases in annual use were seen among 10th-graders for
GHB, from 1.4 percent in 2003 to 0.8 percent in 2004, and ketamine,
from 1.9 percent in 2003 to 1.3 percent in 2004.
LSD -- Lifetime use of LSD decreased significantly among 12th-graders, from
5.9 percent in 2003 to 4.6 percent in 2004, continuing the pattern of
decreases in LSD use noted in 2002 and 2003.
Anabolic Steroids -- Use of steroids decreased significantly among eighth-graders, from 2.5
percent in 2003 to 1.9 percent in 2004 for lifetime use and from 1.4
percent in 2003 to 1.1 percent in 2004 for annual use. Among
10th-graders, lifetime use decreased significantly, from 3.0 percent in
2003 to 2.4 percent in 2004, continuing the decrease in use among
10th-graders seen in 2003. Steroid use among 12th-graders, however,
remained stable at peak levels.
Cocaine (other than crack) -- A significant increase in use of cocaine other than crack was seen
among 10th-graders, from 1.1 percent in 2003 to 1.5 percent in 2004,
for 30-day use. An increase in the perception of availability of all
forms of cocaine was seen among 12th-graders.
Cigarettes/Nicotine -- Cigarette smoking decreased significantly among 10th-graders, from
43.0 percent in 2003 to 40.7 percent in 2004 for lifetime use and from
4.1 percent in 2003 to 3.3 percent in 2004 for those smoking one-half
pack or more per day. The perception of harm from smoking one or more
packs per day increased significantly among eighth- and 10th-graders from
2003 to 2004.
Alcohol, heroin, crack cocaine, hallucinogens other than LSD, PCP, amphetamines, tranquilizers, sedatives and methaqualone remained stable among all grades from 2003 to 2004.
One last note. The
use of marijuana by 12th-graders peaked in 1979, when 51 percent of
12th graders admitted to having lit up in the previous year. It occurs
to me that many teachers,
school-board members and principals would be about that age. Maybe we
are not testing the right group of people.
Drug-Free Zones Might Not Work, Either
The Associated Press ran a story saying the so-called "drug-free zones" set up in many cities don't seem to work, either.
These are places where, if a crackhead gets arrested, he or she gets
even more punishment for using drugs than if it happened outside a
drug-free zone.
In New Jersey, Connecticut and Washington state, bills have been proposed to sharply reduce the size of the zones. A former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts reviewed hundreds of drug-free-zone cases, and found that less than 1 percent involved drug sales to youths.
Citing such developments, the Washington-based Justice Policy Institute [issued] a report Thursday
that contends such laws, which generally carry extra-stiff mandatory
penalties, have done little to safeguard young people and are enforced
disproportionately on blacks and Hispanics.
The main problem seems to be the zones are too darn big. Druggies don't even know they are "in the zone." The study contains this passage:
Contrary to fears of drug dealers on playgrounds, Utah's
Sentencing Commission found that most sales actually occur within a
residence that simply happens to be located within a zone. "The
purpose of drug-free school zones was to protect children and schools
by insulating them from drug activity," said New Jersey Assistant
Attorney General Ron Susswein. "Our intention was to create a safe
harbor for children by pushing the pushers away. Unfortunately, the
current 1,000-foot zones have failed to achieve that objective."
Bulldozing Churches
Even while lawmakers in 47 states are working on or have passed legislation that would limit eminent domain powers, one watchdog group has identified
at least eight cases in seven states in which local governments want to
bulldoze churches to make way for commercial development.
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a
compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a
variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When
the information comes directly from another source, it will be
attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is
fact-checked, but depends upon the accuracy and integrity of the
original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
