Drug Tests Are Useless Devices That Don’t Even Work at Detecting Drugs
The Drug Czar's blog was very excited on Friday. Why? Because a school in Florida drug tested 120 students and all of them passed!
"It worked out very positively," [the principal] said this afternoon. "We did not have a single student test positive, out of 120 students we tested."Admittedly, a random sample of 120 students testing negative for drugs is a surprising result. So surprising, in fact, that one begins to wonder how the hell it happened. Well the answer is simple: according to Tampa Bay Online, they used saliva tests, which are practically useless.
Random meant random, she said. Tests were done unannounced at different times during different days of the week. Some students were tested more than once, just because of the randomness of it all, she said. [Tampa Bay Online]
Via wikipedia, here are the estimated detection times for saliva drug testing:
- Marijuana and hashish (THC): An hour after ingestion, and up to 24 hours depending on use.
- Cocaine (including crack): From time of ingestion up to 2 to 3 days.
- Opiates: From time of ingestion up to 2 to 3 days
- Methamphetamine and ecstasy (MDMA, "crank," "ice"): From time of ingestion up to 2 to 3 days.
- Benzodiazepines: From time of ingestion up to 2 to 3 days
So, basically, all 120 of these students could have been smoking hash and crack all night on Friday and still passed their drug tests on Monday when they got to school. I'm not saying that's what happened. I'm just saying that testing students' saliva doesn't prove whether or not they use drugs. That's not how it works, and any newspaper article purporting to celebrate the effectiveness of such a program ought to disclose that fact, lest it should become yet another arm in the Drug Czar's nationwide campaign to randomly collect bodily fluids from our children.
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"Feel good" drug testing
It doesn't work in the workplace and it doesn't work in the schools. The only real way to determine if drug testing works is if you compare drug use in schools during the period of drug testing. If there is no change, then case closed.
I've actually looked over one school district in my community that does student drug testing and these kids are not quitting. I'm seeing 50% increase in pot use and tripled cocaine use over a several year period, but the schools rarely make these results public.
Message to Parents:
You are the anti-drug. Only you can take care of your kids. It's been that way since the dawn of mankind. State drug testing is a welfare program and not a very good one. If you worry about other kids giving your kids drugs, then you should take the initiative and explore all drug prevention options, including drug testing your kids. That's your right as a parent. Don't give it up to the government.
Oppose Drug Testing and Go to Hell
Yes, it’s the double-weird, double-think world that is this nation’s drug policy. Seeing overjoyed drug warriors pat each other on the back because 120 students at a Florida private school were actually able to pass a drug test that’s limited to detecting drugs taken within the last 72-hours. It makes perfect sense.
How typical of the career government bureaucrat, who, deservedly lacking external praise, creates the convoluted circumstances to fabricate their self-congratulations for a job well done.
The drug tests were conducted at a private Catholic school. While I’m no expert on the follies of the Catholic school experience, many testimonials would indicate to me that having Sister Mary Stun-Gun hovering over some hapless student is going to make that kid very careful, smart and creative in their drug taking behavior.
The Tampa Online article barely touches on the privacy issue, noting that ‘some students said they thought their privacy had been invaded’. Really? Is that it—ten words? So that’s how much privacy is worth in our society today? Well, maybe in Florida. But for every student who stood up and voiced their opposition, there were probably ten more who were so intimidated by the whole process that they remained silent.
The government’s drug testing tactic appears to be one of conditioning people from a young age to accept, or at least tolerate, government intrusions into their lives. The extent to which a government can legally intrude into our lives can be the defining distinction between different types of governments. Perhaps Drug Duce John P. Walters has his own style of government in mind when he praises drug testing.
Giordano
Message to parents:
While drug abuse is definitely an issue to be concerned about, the most genuine relationship a parent could have with their child is one based on not just love, but communication and trust as well. Drug testing your children creates a sense of lost trust, and will make them much more reluctant to openly discuss the issue with you if they really are having a problem. Instead, make sure you maintain a healthy and open relationship so they know you're there for them and trust them to make the right decisions.
Plus, too often, people turn to harder drugs which get out of their system faster once they're faced with the threat of a drug test. Not to mention the cost of just a single drug test can be up to $45, and the accuracy is less than impressive.
Unfortunately drug testing anywhere, whether workplace, school, or at home just won't cut it.
Student Drug Testing
It would be helpfull to have some facts before commenting.
Who was the manufacturer of the test?
What was the intent of the test program?
What is considered a successful program?
Without facts, I respectfully submit that comments are inappropriate?
Student Drug Testing
Using the times Wikepedia gave that drugs remain in your system is absurd.
I know for a fact Benzos can stay in your system and be detected for up to 4 weeks -possibly a bit longer
Also pot can stay in your system for up to a month and that could even be 2nd hand pot smoke
The person who wrote the comments above is totally correct in saying know the facts before commenting.
Given the very few days you say drugs stay in someones system is wrong.
Your guesswork could ruin a kids chance at going to college or even to jail.
Just Say Know
That wikipedia article cited Lab Corp results for saliva testing, which tend to have shorter detection times than the urine test times you are innacurately refering to. Your statement that passively inhaled mj smoke can stay in your system a month is absurd. You need to be a daily heavy user for mj to show up weeks beyond your use. Casual marijuana use on Friday will be out of your system by Monday. High school kids are the least likely to get caught because their metabolisms work a lot faster plus since most of them live with their parents they are not likely to be heavy users. More often than not, the number of students caught by any school's drug test is usually in the single digits even though their school surveys show hundreds of students may be using marijuana.
FACT-Freedom is appropriate
Comments in regards of peoples rights ,are never "inappropriate".Substance testing makes big bucks("intent" of "manufacturer") ,and fools parents into false conclusions("successfull"). What's in your childs body, is no ones business but the parents.
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