Ron Rodriguez from County Academy used drugs every day to function. He became so wrapped up in his lifestyle of buying and selling drugs that he felt like a prisoner. His grades dropped below average. For 2 years, he asked for help saying, “Should I go see a therapist?” to anyone that would listen. Ron would flush his system out before the annual drug test, and pass. When County Academy decided to give random drug test instead of annual tests, Ron received the help he needed. The school counseled him, in privacy, and told him he needed to go to rehab. Ron received the help he needed because County Academy found a student whose life was being taken over by drugs and helped influence him to get the proper help he needed. Today, Ron attends County Academy as a junior; he is drug free. This story serves as a great example of how drug testing helps keep students away from using drugs. Drug testing students can help prevent the use of a mind altering substance. Testing potentially offers guidance for logical decisions to be made. A school having random drug tests could help lessen drug use and offer help to those feeling controlled by substance addiction. Drug testing in schools are a potential way of enabling better brain development. Testing can teach a student about becoming employed, for most jobs require a drug test for pre-employment and future employment. Drug test teach students to be accountable for their own actions. Non-prescribed drugs are currently illegal for children and adults to use for personal satisfaction, such as achieving a euphoric state of mind or selling for profit. Drug testing in schools is a positive reinforcement on students.
Testing for drugs among a student body can help prevent drug use. Pro...
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... from poor efforts exerted in the classroom.
Drug test are a positive reinforcement in helping students. Helping students find their full potential are a schools main goal. If random drug test would have been applied sooner at County Academy, Ron probably would have not had to suffer through drug addiction. If students would understand those drug tests are actually there to help them, they wouldn’t fear taking a drug test. Drug test are a positive reinforcement.
Works Cited
Walters, John P. "Student Drug Testing Is Necessary." Opposing Viewpoints: Privacy. Ed. Jamuna Carroll. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. University of West Alabama. 16 Mar. 2010 .
In Vernonia v. Acton, the issue in question is the school’s ability to drug test student-athletes. In the mid 80’s, the Vernonia School District noticed an uptick in drug use, and more so from athletes. Furthermore, the football and wrestling coach cited several situations that he felt drug-use was causing the athletes to be unsafe. Thus, the school instituted a mandatory drug test for all student athletes prior to the season, and then weekly random drug testing. If a student-athlete failed a test, they would have the choice of joining a rehab program, or serving a suspension. Suspension from school was never an option, nor were the results reported to authorities. Results were reported to the superintendent, athletic director, and other personnel on a need to know basis only (Vernonia v. Acton, 1995).
In Vernonia v. Acton, the issue in question is the school’s ability to drug test student-athletes. In the mid 80’s, the Vernonia School District noticed an uptick in drug use, and more so from athletes. Furthermore, the football and wrestling coach cited several situations that he felt drug-use was causing the athletes to be unsafe. Thus, the school instituted a mandatory drug test for all student athletes prior to the season, and then weekly random drug testing. If a student-athlete failed a test, they would have the choice of joining a rehab program, or serving a suspension. Suspension of school was never an option, nor were the results reported to authorities. Results were reported to the superintendent, athletic director, and other personnel on a need to know basis.
Studies as recent as 2001 have shown that 50% of 12th graders have been associated with drug use (“Frequently”). Schools have identified this to be a crucial issue, especially if it is a student who participates in extracurricular activities. Frequent drug use has caused schools to enforce drug test policies. The problem is, not everyone is on board with this new policy. To comprehend the Board of Education v. Earls case of 2002, one must interpret the history prior to the case, contemplate the arguments throughout the case, and recognize the significance of the case. This issue has caused enough controversy to make it all the way to the Supreme Court.
Drugs and alcohol are a big problem everywhere, but school administrators and teachers want to make sure that students are able to reach their full potential and drug use would greatly hinder that. However, according to the 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey 39.9% of students have tried marijuana and 70.8% of students have drank alcohol (YRBSS 2011 National Overview). If schools were to expel every student because of drug or alcohol use, there would hardly be any students left. A booklet published by the Drug Policy Alliance has research that shows that zero tolerance policies do not deter drug and alcohol use. Drug and alcohol use continues to rise in schools, and many schools do not do anything to help combat it except for harsh disciplinary procedures. Most elementary schools have drug education programs, but the same type of education does not work well with teenagers. The Drug Policy Alliance advocates for a three step process to help students instead of p...
...ng drugs will have a huge impact on them and the people that they are around. When a person does drugs once, they will keep using them and eventually become addicted. Drug testing student athletes is a necessity because taking drugs affects relationships that the athlete has, drugs cause consequence that can be detrimental, and lastly taking drugs hurt the body causing the athlete to have health issues. Hence, drug testing should be done in all high schools around the country.
Mckinney, Joseph R. "The Effectiveness and Legality of Random Student Drug Testing Programs Revisited." RandomStudentDrugTesting.org. 2005. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 25 Nov. 2013.
In my opinion I feel that this time of authority drug test are not effective. ” It would seem that if this policy were to make way that there would not be such a large rate of recidivism” (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1999). It takes more that sending a person to prison to break them of their habits. The means which are necessary to aid the cause of ending a drug habit are not available with this policy. Under the Bill of rights, the four rights that this policy violates are, The right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to be treated the same as others.
The United States government projected $25 million to support schools in school-based drug testing and other drug-free programs. In 2003, many schools across the nation provided their own funding for student drug testing programs. The President wants to increase this program for 2005. He also wants to continue funding for ONDCP. This media campaign sends anti-drug messages to young adults via web sites, functions, and events on drug awareness. This approach will include information for parents and youth to encourage early intervention against drug use in 2005.
Many people view drug testing in schools as a good aspect of our school systems. Schools require random drug testing for students in sports. These rates show that random drug testing lower illegal substance use. A pro for random drug testing, can be that it helps regulate the use of drugs in our teenagers. If a teenager happens to test positive, the school and parents can take immediate action to stop the problem before it progresses. They can refer the student to a counselor or if needed to a rehab center. If students know they can be randomly tested, they can see this as a sign to get help. Drug testing can make schools safer and also lower the rates of drug use in schools.
Random testing is used more as a precaution to prevent students from taking the drugs and would eventually control the problem of student athletes taking drugs. Drug testing also has benefits to the student by encouraging them to become the best person and athlete they can be. Without drug testing, students are allowed to use illegal drugs as they please, which could potentially harm their body significantly. The advantages of illegal chemical testing in student athletes outweigh the disadvantages by a lot. Students should be pushed to their highest potential, and random drug testing in athletes can help do
The implementation of random drug testing in schools could be very effective in deterring students from using drugs. “Schools wish to conduct random drug tests as a deterrent from using drugs.” claims www.drugabuse.gov .
An example of an issue with mandatory drug testing was the Vernonia School Dist. 47J v. Acton case. In this case the Vernonia School District, which is located in Oregon, requires any student who wants to participate in activities such as athletics, for example football or basketball, to sign consent forms to allow for random drug testing throughout the particular sports season. One testing is at the beginning of the season and during the season every week the students are placed into a “pool” and 10% of the athletes are chosen for random drug testing. What happened in this case was a student by the name of James Acton wanted to play football for his school but in this school district the student and the par...
High school students are leaders to younger kids and many others in their community. As a leader these student must show others what good character is like, but instead they are destroying their lives by doing drugs. In the past decade the drug use among high school students is on the rise once again. With the internet, their exposure to drugs is much greater. High school students are convinced that they are able to get away with using drugs. These drug addicts soon influence other students into doing the drugs because there isn’t a rule preventing drug use. In order to protect these student’s future, drug tests must be enforced among all students ensuring a safe environment for students to learn successfully. Allowing random drug testing in high schools will shy away students from trying these harmful drugs. The stop of drug use among high school students is crucial because drugs prevents student from learning leading them to dropping out of high school. Students that become overwhelmed by these harmful drugs will ruin their lives forever, but if steered in the right direction they can be saved.
Drug testing is essential to the public to prevent substance abuse. Since drug users tend to abuse drugs in any way they can get out of. The benefits of drug testing help society to be safe. Also drug testing can change the community to become more successful. Safety of workplaces often gives drug testing due to preventing violence and safety at workplaces for employees. Drug testing can be a hardship for drug users due to they sometimes need it for medicine, but some other people take advantage of drug usage that makes society unsafe. That’s why drug testing helps eliminate unacceptable substance that happens in the society.
I. Drug testing is meant to help clean our communities and the schools from drug related problems. Drug testing is an easy yet complicated test for many people. Statistics have shows a dramatic decrease of drug use and abuse in between the years of 2000-2006 (University Services, 2009). The U.K.’s country wide drug testing have helped show scientists all over the world the improvements that drugs testing at schools can make.