March 20, 2004, 1:11AM HISD officials cool to drug czar's idea By MICHAEL HEDGES and JASON SPENCER Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle WASHINGTON -- U.S. drug czar John Walters is urging Houston anti-drug officials to conduct widespread drug testing of public and private school students to help curb the spread of illegal substances among youths. "We ought to do what we do for tuberculosis -- require students be tested -- to catch the disease and keep it from spreading to others," Walters said during a private meeting this week with local officials. A Chronicle reporter was allowed to attend after accompanying Walters on a nighttime drive through some Houston neighborhoods infested by drug dealers. Walters, who visited Houston on a mission to explore the drug problem in America's 25 leading cities, said the city's drug problem "had all the intensity of other major cities, magnified by being a (drug-smuggling) gateway into the U.S. from Mexico." "The destruction drugs have brought to that community is pretty extreme," he said. With Houston police, Walters made a low-key visit to a crack-selling area near a Fifth Ward neighborhood northeast of downtown. Walters, a former U.S. Department of Education aide, did not visit any Houston schools. Most Houston-area school districts have stayed away from drug testing of students, and local officials had a cool reaction Friday to Walter's urging. Houston school board President Karla Cisneros said she'd like to know more about the cost and effectiveness of drug testing. "It's very expensive," Cisneros said. "We need to wait and hear more." School board member Dianne Johnson said there may be better ways to keep drugs out of Houston's schools. "Fear of being tested could be preventive, but I would really like to see us do something proactive rather than a we-caught-ya approach," she said. "I need to check on how we're spending our money now and what we would be giving up to do that." Walters' staff at the Office of National Drug Control Policy is expected to follow up on his suggestion by communicating with Houston and other cities. John Bales, head of Mayor Bill White's Office of Public Safety, said the city had no plans at this time to call for drug testing in schools. Bales, who attended meetings with Walters this week, said, "I'd say at this time the city really doesn't have a position. I know it has been done in some districts across the country. Where it has been done, it has been a controversial issue, no doubt about that." Some parents said they would welcome drug testing if it means safer schools. Jeannette Sebesta, whose twin sons are sophomores at Bellaire High School, said she supports the idea. "That would be fine," Sebesta said. "If they were taking (drugs), I would want to know." Will Harrell, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, accused the Bush administration of looking to do a favor for drug testing companies that would profit from such a policy. "It's just a gimmick and it demoralizes students who are supposed to be taught that they have a right to be presumed innocent until they do something wrong," he said. The ACLU has sued to stop random drug testing of students in some states. In the most recent ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court upheld a school district's random testing policy by a 4-3 vote. The court also ruled, though, that testing must be tied to evidence that a significant drug problem exists in a school system. The U.S. Supreme Court has approved testing for students in sports and other extracurricular activities and for the privilege of driving to school and parking on school property. The court has not ruled on whether school systems can require all students to be tested. Walters said some school systems started widespread testing after a tragedy, such as a student overdose, led to parental pressure on school officials. But groups like the ACLU oppose the testing, saying it is a violation of privacy, a matter better left to parents, and that drug testing is ineffective in halting the spread of drugs among young people. Recent studies for the federal government have cast doubt on the effectiveness of drug testing in schools as a deterrent. But Walters said drug testing can give youths a response to the peer pressure to use illicit substances. He cited mar1juana, Ecstasy and alcohol as among the substances most commonly abused by students in Houston and elsewhere. There are various ways a testing program can work at schools. In some settings, parents are asked to give permission for testing. Children of those who refuse are exempt. Some private schools conduct drug testing as a condition for admitting students. Some cities want to set up magnet schools where agreeing to drug testing is a condition of admission. When a student is found to have used drugs, Walters said, it is critical that the information not be used in a punitive way. Parents can be called in with the student for a private conference, he said, and repeat offenders can be referred to a treatment program.
"We're losing the war on drugs. Well you know what that implies? There's a war going on, and people on drugs are winning it. Well what does that tell you about drugs?"
what usually happens, when students get caught with drugs, and this has been the case in DC, they get punished, but since they are already often addicted and rarely want to quit, the programs do nothing, their parents do nothing and they end up dropping out and feeding their drug habit.
I am totally against this. It treats our children as guilty until proven innocent, criminals unless proven otherwise, that their parents are not to be trusted, that the school administration and the teachers are not to be trusted, and that our government would rather take a page from the Facist School of "we know better than anyone else what to do with your child, your school district and, if you don't like it, well... f*** you." I have a kid in middle school who's involved in many extracurricular activities, like school government, choir (for which he's recognized in the region), is a member of the National Junior Honor Society, many other things, and he happens to go to a magnet school. What's he going to think if he's told, "Sorry kid. We know your outstanding record, you've never been to the assistant principal's office, you're never a disciplinary problem of any kind... heck, you're one of our top students. But we want you to pee in a cup and prove you are what you are because our FEDERAL GOVERNMENT of George W. Bush wants us to do it. Again, we apologize, but we've been told what to do." This crap make me livid. Why not just give it up, create a Federal School System, and put this far-right, Christian Fundamentalist, Republican government in charge... you know, those people who are for limited government and local control. Why not? Let's just give it up, people. We can have a facist state. The people of this administration are itching to give us one. Then we won't have to worry about terrorism. They will have won.
So, shouldn't we advocate for a system that actually reduces drug availability to teens? Our children have reported since the '70s that over half of them use an illegal drug before they leave high school and list illegal drugs as easier to acquire than alcohol. Not only that, but the current prohibitionist system guarantees that kids will have an easier time getting these substances than most adults do, exposing them to some of the most dangerous substances in the world. Since we have ceded control of these substances to the criminal underground, we have written the death warrant of many of our nation's children in the name of a program that is extraordinarily expensive, does not meet its stated goals, and is actually counterproductive in many ways. Our drug policy could reduce the access that kids have to drugs, we will just need to regulate the industry to accomplish that goal.
I am against random drug testing in any form unless used against known offenders. I could understand if they wanted to establish scheduled testing for known offenders in order for them to be permitted to attend school, but to just randomly select our kids is only teaching them that we're all always considered suspects regardless of our actions.
