Random Drug Testing In Schools Essay

Drug abuse and the use of illicit substances is one of the biggest problems that our country faces today. Our youth are being faced with drugs at younger and younger ages. An epidemic has arose with heroin in communities big and small. Community leaders and those in power seem helpless and are constantly trying to find ways to control and stop this crisis. One common proposition is the institution of random drug tests at schools. The goal of these random drug tests is to make students less likely to try drugs or continue doing them if they had been previously. Random drug tests in schools have many positive and negative outcomes and people have very strong opinions on the subject, making it an extremely controversial topic. Many people are opposed to random drug tests in schools for an array of reasons. In a nutshell, it is mostly because they believe the drug tests are an infringement on the students’ constitutional rights. They claim that the drug tests won’t result in a decrease in drug use. Students will simply begin using different, less-detectable drugs. For instance, marijuana, the most commonly used illicit drug, is amongst the least harmful illegal drugs. Marijuana is also the most easily detected drug and most common drug tested for. Studies have shown that students who previously used marijuana resulted to drugs they think the tests will

If there wasn’t any disagreements, a resolution would have already been reached; however, that is not the case. The first obvious disagreement is over the subject in whole. Side A believes that drug tests are an infringement on a students’ rights and that they are not effective, while Side B argues that drug tests are not only effective, but are also within the rights of the school to impose them upon their students who participate in extracurricular activities with some limitations and