Dade County became the nation’s largest school district to approve a high school drug testing program. Students who have their parent’s approval will be randomly drug-tested for marijuana, cocaine, opiates, barbiturates, and amphetamines, reported the Associated Press on Thursday.
“It’s total parental empowerment,” said school board member Renier Diaz de la Portilla, who proposed the program. “Not all parents have the time to make sure their kids aren’t doing drugs,” he said. “We’re doing this as a service [to parents.]”
Dade plans to spend up to $200,000 to initiate the program and expects to begin testing as early as January. Approximately 345,000 students attend Dade County public schools.
“Drug testing students without reasonable suspicion is completely inappropriate and most likely unconstitutional,” charged NORML Executive Director R. Keith Stroup. He noted that the United States Supreme Court recently struck down a Georgia statute mandating political candidates to undergo a drug test before running for political office because it violated Fourth Amendment protections granted by the U.S. Constitution.
For more information, please contact either R. Keith Stroup or Paul Armentano of NORML at (202) 483-5500. NORML’s position paper: A Look At The Historical Legal Basis For Urine Testing is available upon request.