effects-of-marijuana-on-the-body

KIDS REJECT SCHOOL DRUG TESTING

Some Students Support It, But Most Dislike The Lt.  Gov's Plan

Zack Morrissey and Sarah Stewart know the kids who smoke marijuana, use cocaine and dabble in heroin.

The Quincy High School sophomores, who said they don't use drugs, say random drug testing at high schools, a plan proposed this week by Lt.  Gov.  Kerry Healey, goes too far and is a questionable solution to the problem.  "It's a tough issue, but I really feel it comes down to a question of privacy," said Stewart, 15.  "( School officials ) should have the right to punish you if you bring drugs into school, but not to randomly test kids." Said Morrissey, 16, "As long as kids are sober in class, what do ( school officials ) care." Healey presented the administration's plan to members of the Legislature's new Committee on Mental Health and Substance abuse.  The issue immediately sparked debate in school lunchrooms and classrooms across the state.  In an interview yesterday, Healey said random testing would be done only at high schools where the program has already been adopted locally, and only students whose parents have signed off on the plan would be subjected to the tests.  The intention, she said, is not to target high school drug users for criminal prosecution, but to get them help.

"This is not meant to be punitive, but to pick up kids early and get them into counseling and treatment," she said.

As superintendents come forward with interest in the plan, Healey said she will be ready to work with them.  Both the New Bedford and Salem school districts are considering adopting the policy, she said.

Before anything can happen, though, the administration is counting on legislative approval of $9.1 million included in a supplemental budget.  Healey said the money would help 6,000 to 8,000 drug users in need of rehabilitation services.  It would also help attract $14.5 million in federal matching funds "We're not asking schools to take money out of education funding; it's coming out of substance abuse funding," she said.

Despite the provision for parental approval of the plan, ACLU spokesman Sarah Wunsch said random drug testing will certainly be challenged in court on constitutional grounds.

The U.S.  Supreme Court has ruled that students who participate in competitive extra-curricular activities can be tested, but has drawn the line there.  The issue of other students being subjected to random tests has yet to be considered by the high court, Wunsch said.

Even with parental approval of the testing, the question remains: Do students have 4th Amendment rights - protection against illegal searches - that are independent of their parents' wishes?

Wunsch said that issue remains to be resolved.  "You can't invoke a national drug problem as justification for this," she said.  In a ruling that could offer guidance, she said, the state Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Boston police officers could not be randomly tested for drugs.  "I think that tells us something about what the SJC would say about random drug testing of kids," Wunsch said.  "Any school system that says this is a great thing to do will be facing a lawsuit and is taking its chances." Still, not all students oppose the administration's plan.  Bill Wilkinson, a Quincy High senior, said his contemporary issues class debated the topic this week.  He was one of several students in the minority who support Healey's proposal.

"Everyone deserves constitutional rights," he said, "but teenagers don't know what's good for them.  I know a lot of kids who use drugs, but not a lot who go to counseling."