When you think back to middle school, and maybe even high school, can you still picture your “little, innocent self”? The little ‘you’ that was afraid to break the rules, or go against authority? I can. I remember my friends and I seeing older kids getting in trouble, and swearing we would never follow the paths they paved. We thought we would never curse, never drink underage, and swore to never try drugs. However, much like 42% of teenagers (Castillo), we did not all hold true to the beliefs of our younger selves.

One of my closest childhood friends was one that I watched walk straight down the wrong path without ever looking back. has allowed drugs to lead him down a bad path in life. He hasn’t reached the age of 20, but because of choices he has made, along with the assistance of drug abuse, he has managed to get arrested three times, hospitalized on a separate three accounts, kicked out of his university, as well as his own home. 

I have seen friends arrested, hospitalized for mental state, put on suicide watch and much more due to their choices in drug abuse. Experiencing this first hand, I have seen the damage that drug abuse has caused on friends and family members of the person struggling, and seen numerous steps taken to try to prevent further destruction to their own lives. Abusing illegal substances can have many negative impacts on a person’s life, which is why I believe it to be crucial that we find a way to help students in the American education system fighting against drug abuse.

Drug abuse among teenagers is not a new concern, although it is a growing one. Since 2007, the use of marijuana alone has increased in Americans 12 years and older from roughly 14 million users to almost 20 million (NIDA). Marijuana isn’t the only drug that is showing upward trends in users either. Illicit drug use overall for Americans 12 and up has increased by almost one percent of the US population over the past 10 years, raising the amount of users by over 3 million people (NIDA).

With trends like these in our country, it is no surprise students are finding it easier and easier to get ahold of narcotics. In a study, it was revealed that 44% of high school students surveyed admitted to knowing classmates that sold drugs; 91% of the students surveyed said they knew a classmate selling marijuana (‘Drug Use In…”). Students having the ability to purchase/attain drugs easily from one another promotes its usage with American youth. This means that as students start experimenting with drugs at younger ages, they are more likely to acquire addictions at earlier ages.

It is obvious that one can see the common concerns regarding students using drugs. Therefore, it should be no surprise that the education system has taken its own stand to try to prevent students from using drugs. There have been two big court cases that led to the legalization of drug testing of select students in schools. The first was in 1995, and it was a case to allow schools to drug test students participating in athletics through the school. This later led to a case in 2002 that later extended it to students in all after school activities could legally be drug tested by the school (John). According to the Drug-Free Project Coalition, there are roughly 2,000 U.S. school districts have adopted and implemented drug testing since it was first legalized, and this number continues to grow. 

Due to the increase in participation in school districts across the U.S, there have been many studies to see the impact of the drug tests, and to see how well they were controlling student drug abuse. In a journal posted in the Brown University Child and Adolescent Behavior Letter, the author discusses how the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) does not support drug testing in schools. The AAP shares that even schools who have seen a positive correlation between drug testing students and their involvement with illegal substances do not feel the correlation is strong enough to suggest that there is a direct cause and effect between the two. The AAP poses that there should be alternative options in place for schools (“AAP opposes school…”). 

While schools are not drug testing  every student each round, they tend to randomly select groups of students that are then required to submit a sample to be tested. Even without testing each student for each round of testing, it still works out to cost the school system $20,000 per year to keep their drug tests running (Ingraham). While this is the school’s money given by the state, one might question whether spending these funds on tests, that have shown no positive impact in the ways they were designed to, is the best choice for the students.

Referring back to the article about the statement given by the AAP, the spokesman states that they feel the money used on tests could still go a long way in helping prevent drug abuse in American teens (“AAP opposes school…”). I believe we are at a crossroads in the methods to take to help students fight drug addiction. While the focus has mainly rested on catching students in the act of abusing drugs, it has shown that students either find ways to pass the tests (fake urine, remedies to hide traces of THC, etc.) or they take to harder drugs. I feel that instead of forcing random tests on students, we should reallocate the money being used to buy said tests and instead use these funds to provide drug counseling inside of the school. Through ways of anonymous tips and targeting students that have had charges, and other drug related instances, in-school counseling could help guide them through their addictions and give further opportunities to provide specific drug tests for students showing at risk behaviors that need further guidance staying sober. There are many ways to help students who are struggling with narcotic addictions, and I believe it is time to try a new method that might show more of an impact on helping students fight their addictions than in school drug testing. 

Through much research, I have found my biggest concern being that of the results of studies regarding how impactful the drug testing has been for students. In a study done by the Institute of Education Sciences, over 4,700 students in 36 different high schools were surveyed. The study had participants from both drug testing and non-drug testing high schools, and found that equal amounts of students not only had taken drugs covered by the school’s drug test, but also planned to take them again in the next 12 months (“The effectiveness of..”). These statistics show is that students are going to use these substances whether or not there is a drug test present, meaning the tests aren’t making students more hesitant about using drugs like originally hoped.

However, if students are willing to take substances knowingly being drug tested, this means one of two things. First, it could mean that students are able to ‘cheat’ the drug test. In fact, urine drug tests are so easily cheatable, that when searched on Google it will yield over 1.5 million search results (McCarty). If students are able to cheat their way out of these drug tests, there is no real benefit to implementing the tests in the schools. Students will be able to continue freely using drugs without the fear of being caught and disciplined.

If cheating on the drugs tests is not easily doable, however, this still means that students are risking being caught by their schools in order to continue taking drugs. If this is the case, then one might question whether or not we have the correct disciplinary actions in order as consequences for students that are not able to pass a drug test implemented in their school. Schools never had a set way to deal with students who could not pass, and it lead to an array of consequences for first time offenders. On their first offense, a study showed, students could have anything from a phone call home, meetings with the school, referrals for counseling outside of school, or even suspension and expulsion (Ringwalt).

One way or another, students are not finding drug testing to be a reason to keep them from using substances. This could stem from their disciplinary measures not being reprimanding enough, or it could mean students have simply found ways to not get caught by the tests the schools have in place. Either way, these drug tests have not provided enough evidence to show that they are assisting in the fight against drug abuse to prove necessary to keep around. With the thousands of dollars being spent on drugs test, the schools could afford additional counseling for students who need assistance with their addictions, as well as helping the school overall update their educational materials for all students.

Outside of the concerns of how effective the drug tests have been at preventing substance abuse among American youth, there is also great concern for the negative impacts they have had on the students. While the original hope was that students would stray away from taking drugs when they realized they would be randomly tested for substances, students actually found a different loophole.

During some studies it was originally thought that students were reducing in their drugs use. Schools use standard drug tests, which test for THC, cocaine, amphetamines, PCP, and opioids (John). This means that hallucinogens (such as LSD), psilocybin (mushrooms), as well as synthetic drugs (bath salts, Flakka, etc.) are not detectable on these drugs test. During studies that began showing less usage of marijuana when schools were drug testing, experts found that students turned to drugs that wouldn’t show up on their tests in order to not get caught (Terry-McElrath).

While this study was one of few that have shown positive results in increasing numbers of students that were passing their drug tests, it seemed to only drive participants to use more serious illegal substances in order to avoid consequences from the school. This is very much a big concern with drug testing in schools, as the design was to move students away from abusing all drugs, not simply get them away from marijuana. Students should not feel like they must pass the test simply to avoid punishment, but rather understand the dangers of the substances they are using. This is one way that extended resources such as counseling and courses on informing students about the dangers of drugs would be more beneficial to helping students understand what could go wrong if they experiment with the wrong drugs, or take a substance too many times. 

Some will argue that drug testing is the most sure way of stopping teens from abusing drugs by simply trying to cut them off from the source immediately. In a study done in 2002, 4 schools reported seeing positive results after implementing drug tests. The studies showed that after a first round of drug testing, those who did not pass then had to return for another testing. In the four schools, all had very few repeat offenders (LLC).

While this is a positive sight seeing that students did not fail after their second testing, there are many outlying factors in these findings. Students who failed the first time were aware of a second test they would have to take, so they would have been prepared for it the second time; therefore showing a possible answer to the change in failed tests. The other things we don’t know is if the students had turned to harsher drugs, or, as most of these schools used urinalysis tests, if the students had found ways to cheat their test results. 

There are too many factors that are uncontrollable with random drug testing in schools. I believe, with these drug tests, we have been entirely focused on the wrong aspect of drug abuse prevention with students. Just as with underage drinking, another common concern with our youth, experimenting with illegal substances has proven to be something students have access to despite the restrictions we try to put on it. We should not focus on trying to prevent all of American youth from trying drugs, as more than half of Americans eighteen and older have admitted to trying drugs at least once in their life, and more than half of those do not use illegal substances to this day (O’Hara).  As human beings we have a curious nature, but just because one experiments with drugs, much like alcohol, does not mean it will become an abuse problem. 

I believe we should focus our money and resources on counseling for students who have acquired addictions and need help in their fight with substance abuse. By providing these resources for students, it will be easier for students who would like help with their addictions; as well as other students, teachers, and parents who might provide anonymous concerns for students the school can individually reach out to in efforts to keep students from falling into a lifestyle that may keep them from attaining their goals in life.
