Student athletes at more than 400 Louisiana High School Athletic Association member schools may soon be subject to drug testing under a resolution narrowly approved by the LHSAA Friday.
NORML Legal Committee member William Rittenberg dismissed the LHSAA proposal as a “feel good measure” that would do little to deter student drug use. “The only tangible effect of such a policy will be to encourage our children not to believe in our basic constitutional liberties,” he said. Rittenberg recently won separate legal cases striking down a pair of Louisiana laws that mandated drug tests for public school employees and elected officials.
The LHSAA resolution states that each member school must develop and implement a substance-abuse drug testing policy for student athletes. The LHSAA executive committee will review the procedure before its implementation.
The United States Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 to allow the drug testing of student athletes in 1995.
LHSAA commissioner Tommy Henry estimated that fewer than 50 of the 400+ LHSAA member schools have existing drug testing policies.
For more information please contact either Allen St. Pierre or Paul Armentano of The NORML Foundation @ (202) 483-8751. Attorney William Rittenberg is available @ (504) 524-5555.