Under President George W. Bush, the Office of National Drug Control Policy began advocating random drug testing in public schools. But not everyone thinks this is the best solution.

“Any program of random drug testing institutes a posture of universal suspicion. For an authority to take such a position among airline pilots or on a professional ball field or in a federal courthouse is understandable and tolerable.

But not in a school… because federal law stipulates that only students involved in extracurricular activities or who have school parking privileges can be subjected to random drug tests, such a program would penalize the very students most active in the school community.” [Source: Longmont (CO) Times-Call]

Studies have also found that in places where random school drug testing takes places, parents tend to pay less attention to what their kids are doing -- and, as a result, may be more likely to miss (or misinterpret) symptoms of teen drug abuse.

Posted By: Stefanie Hamilton