Thursday, December 2, 2004

The perfect response to school drug testing Tom Angell is communications director for Students for Sensible Drug Policy. He recently responded to a Kentucky school's decision to implement a random, suspicionless drug testing program for all student athletes. Here's an excerpt: School officials should welcome these at-risk students into the positive atmospheres provided by team sports, especially during the crucial hours between the end of the school day and the time their parents come home from work.  Instead, drug testing programs turn students toward the streets, where they'll be more likely to experiment with drugs.  Yanking at-risk students out of their after-school activities and deterring others from joining could have the unintended consequence of worsening an existing drug problem in the student body.  Indeed, the U.S.  Department of Education and Department of Justice published a report in 1998 underscoring the importance of extracurricular involvement in crime and drug-use reduction among adolescents.  Why would school boards want to further alienate the young people who need their help the most? Forcing students into bathroom stalls while school officials listen for the sounds of urination greatly damages the relationships of trust that are so crucial in our schools.  Students should feel that they can approach adults if they have problems with drugs or are experiencing other hardships of being teenagers.  Instead, the "gotcha" attitude that is fostered by drug testing isolates students and deters them from seeking the help and advice they might need. Read the whole thing. And if a school district in your area considers drug testing, use this as a guide to write your own letter or OpEd. 10:57:40 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []

More proof that it doesn't work A new study confirms what Radley Balko said in his outstanding Cato article today -- the war on drugs isn't working. WASHINGTON -- After 25 years and $25 billion the United States is further from winning the war on drugs, a study released Tuesday indicates. The report conducted by the Washington Office on Latin America, a non-governmental organization that has the stated goal of trying to "reorient U.S. drug control policy to the region," concludes that U.S. policy geared toward "reducing drug abuse and availability in the United States" from a "supply-reduction model does not work." The numbers tell the story pretty graphically: Data compiled by WOLA show that since 1981 the retail price for 2 grams of cocaine went from $544.59 to $106.54 in 2003. Retail heroin prices mirrored the decline in cocaine prices, falling from $1,974.49 to $361.95 during the period. Walsh noted that "price estimates are manifestations of supply and demand" and thus are the most accurate indicators to "determine what is coming in." The number of incarcerated drug offenders rose from 45,272 to 480,519 from 1981 to 2002, and government spending on overseas supply control rose from $373.9 million to $3.6 billion from 1981 to 2004. Overall, government spending on supply control and the price of cocaine and heroin have had negatively correlated trends, with the price of cocaine decreasing by 32 percent and spending rising by almost 10 percent. The greatest change occurred in the number of jailed drug offenders, which swelled by 55 percent, serving sentences that are sometimes incommensurate to the crime and could be addressed more cost effectively through drug rehabilitation, the report said. More at D'Alliance [Thanks to US Marijuana Party Blog and LastOneSpeaks. Cross posted at The Agitator] 10:50:22 PM | drug policy | Related  | permalink | comment []