Negatives of Mandatory Drug Tests in High Schools

Drug testing in schools has been a contentious issue in the United States since 1995 when the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of random testing by local public schools in Vernonia, Oregon. Since then, debate has raged as to whether mandatory drug testing is an effective way of discouraging the country's young people from experimenting with drugs. Individuals who favor the introduction of such a policy say that young people who have done nothing wrong have nothing to fear and that radical action is required to tackle the problem of drug abuse in schools. Other campaigners and commentators have questioned whether this is the right way to approach a complex and emotive issue.

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

• Mandatory drug testing violates the legal notion that any citizen accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. The concept of compelling an individual of any age to submit to mandatory drug testing also raises important ethical questions about that individual's human rights and the right of the state to intervene in their conduct. Mandatory drug testing is seen by some as a gross invasion of an individual's right to privacy and a big brother-style sledgehammer approach of an authoritarian government.

Cost

• Mandatory drug testing is not cheap. Then president George W. Bush requested $17.9 million for student drug testing grants in his 2008 budget. This may sound like short change when compared to the defense budget or the billions spent on bailing out failing financial institutions after the banking crisis in 2008, but individuals who oppose the policy of testing say that this money could be spent more effectively on woefully under-funded education and treatment programs.

Pushing the Problem Underground

• Young people who might be experimenting with drugs could be pushed out of extracurricular activities, skip school to avoid testing or drop out altogether if they face the prospect of a mandatory test. Many vulnerable kids already suffering from serious problems could be pushed out of the system and descend further into drug use or start experimenting with other substances that are not tested for.

Evidence

• No evidence exists that drug testing in schools has a positive effect on substance abuse among children. A study carried by researchers from the university of Michigan in 2003 found that drug testing had no link to the prevalence of drug taking among 76,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students.