Elk Grove, IL: Pediatricians should oppose the establishment of student drug testing programs in public schools because they may decrease student involvement in extracurricular activities and undermine trust between pupils and educators, according to a policy statement published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Council on School Health in the current issue of the journal Pediatrics.
The statement marks the second time this year the Academy has voiced opposition to the enactment of random student drug testing programs. In March, the AAP stated, “There is little evidence of the effectiveness of school-based drug testing,” and warned that students subjected to random testing programs may experience “an increase in known risk factors for drug use.”
The Academy reaffirmed its opposition to the practice this month, concluding: “Physicians should not support drug testing in schools … [because] it has not yet been established that drug testing does not cause harm.” The association warns that students subjected to random testing are more likely to disengage in school activities, and argues that federal funding earmarked for the enactment of drug testing programs “may be more effectively spent on drug prevention programs or well-established counseling programs.”
Last month, a two-year prospective trial published in the Journal of Adolescent Health concluded that random drug testing programs targeting high school athletes do not reduce self-reported drug use and may encourage behaviors associated with “future substance use.”
A 2003 cross-sectional study of various student drug testing programs nationwide similarly reported, “Drug testing, as practiced in recent years in American secondary schools, does not prevent or inhibit student drug use.”
Since 2005, the US Department of Education has appropriated over $10 million dollars to enact random student drug testing programs in public middle schools and high schools around the nation. The White House has repeatedly lauded the programs, claiming, “student drug testing has proven to be effective in schools that have tried it.”
For more information, please contact Allen St. Pierre, NORML Executive Director, or Paul Armentano, NORML Senior Policy Analyst, at: paul@norml.org. Full text of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ policy statement appears online at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/120/6/1379.