June 23, 2005
Dear Member of Congress:
On behalf of the 1,300 members of the Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA), I urge you to protect the funding of student drug testing programs for fiscal year 2006 that is contained in the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill (H.R. 3010) scheduled to be taken up today and tomorrow.
Rep. Bobby Scott (VA-3) plans to offer an amendment that will zero out funding for student drug testing pilot programs in the national programs of the Safe and Drug Free Schools Act, and we ask that you oppose this amendment.
The effectiveness of random, non-punitive, student drug testing has been proven time after time. These programs apply only to students who voluntarily choose to participate in athletic and extracurricular activities. The United States Supreme Court, and many state supreme courts, have upheld such programs. Citing the United States Supreme Court’s decision concerning student drug testing programs, “Because this Policy reasonably serves the School District’s important interest in detecting and preventing drug use among its students, we hold that it is constitutional. …Finally, we find that testing students who participate in extracurricular activities is a reasonably effective means of addressing the School District’s legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring, and detecting drug use.”
It is critical to deter drug use during school years because kids on dope can’t learn. If kids can't learn, how will they succeed in life? Random drug testing deters student drug use just as it deters drug use in the workplace. Random student drug testing is important because studies show that children become addicted more rapidly than adults and their recovery is less likely. Furthermore, studies also show that if a person avoids drugs until the age of 20, the likelihood of that person ever using drugs is reduced to almost zero.
Students have a right to safe and drug-free learning environments, and school administrators need reasonable tools to stop the detrimental effects that drug users and drug dealers have on schools.
Testing gives parents an opportunity for intervention and treatment, and parents have the right to send their kids to drug-free schools. The thought of sending their kids to a school where drugs are rampant scares parents. Drug testing helps keep our kids safe.
Random drug testing gives schools a strong weapon to get drugs out of schools. Student drug testing programs are a proven low cost method to win the fight for our children's future. Schools that implement drug testing experience a substantial reduction in drug use.
I again urge you to protect funding for student drug testing programs. If you would like more information on random, non-punitive student drug testing or studies showing its effectiveness, please visit
www.datia.org/resources/leg_reg_review.htm#stud or contact me at 703.548.0901, ex.13, or mmoskal@wpa.org.
Sincerely,
Melissa Moskal
Executive Director
