cannabisnews.com: Summit on Drug Testing is Today 





Summit on Drug Testing is Today 
Posted by CN Staff on March 18, 2004 at 07:48:37 PT
By Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureau 
Source: Fresno Bee
Washington -- The drug-testing debate striking the San Joaquin Valley this week has provoked conflicting responses in classrooms and courtrooms alike. By convening a Fresno summit today, one of four like it being held nationwide, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy hopes to open a dialogue about school drug testing.
It's a conversation for which the White House, at least, has already formed a conclusion. "They have a deterrent effect," Brian Blake, a spokesman for the White House drug office, said of random drug tests, "and they help identify kids who may have a drug problem in the early stages so they can get treatment."Some agree, some do not, and most are still finding their way. In Oklahoma's panhandle, the town of Guymon formerly tested students. Eventually, some students began quitting the after-school activities, said Guymon's assistant superintendent, Douglas Melton, and the district stopped the testing over questions about its cost-effectiveness. "It's very expensive," Melton said, citing an $18,000 cost in a district with one high school and one junior high school. "So instead of spending the money on testing, we hired a resource officer instead."But because a new federal grant will pay for the local resource officer, Melton added, the Guymon schools anticipate resuming testing within weeks.Symbolically, Guymon's experience cuts in several directions.The district's original decision to quit testing was highlighted by the Drug Policy Alliance, an organization that opposes random drug testing. The Guymon district's decision to renew testing, thanks to a temporary federal grant, is thus a public relations blow to the alliance, which says studies fail to show any benefit to drug testing.Note: School issue to be weighed at Fresno session, 1 of 4 like it being held across the U.S. Snipped: Complete Article: http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/8295109p-9137204c.htmlSource: Fresno Bee, The (CA)Author: Michael Doyle, Bee Washington Bureau Published: Thursday, March 18, 2004Copyright: 2004 The Fresno BeeContact: letters fresnobee.comWebsite: http://www.fresnobee.com/Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/CannabisNews Drug Testing Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/drug_testing.shtml
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Comment #1 posted by kaptinemo on March 18, 2004 at 09:15:00 PT:
But one paragraph sums it up
Namely, that after testing was instituted in Guymon, OK, the students who would normally have signed up for extracurricular activities requiring the pee testing...didn't apply.All perfectly predictable...and shocking to the antis. They just can't get it. The kids are telling them they'd rather find their own means of entertaining themselves than submit to something their own parents would have raised a stink about when *they* were in school. They have engaged in the only means they have civil disobedience of informing the supposed 'older and wiser heads' of their opinion of this latest affront to their dignity - stony, cold contemptuous silence.
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