Random drug testing is offensive and worthless, statistics show that neither students nor staff members want this regulations implemented at campus. Nor Middle nor High school students should be randomly drug tested, this is a violation to personal privacy, however drug testing an individual who shows signs of drug intoxication is necessary and acceptable.

These random tests are a technique which favors luck, it’s crucial that schools don’t encourage drug use, but to protect students from it.  Drug tests are no way to do that. There are lots of circumstances when an adolescent can be using drugs and not test positive or not be using none and test positive. Here at The Columbus School, other techniques which are proven to work way better are being implemented, just like teaching students the dangers and precautions drug come with.

An astonishing 20% of the American Academy of Pediatricians support the introduction of drug tests into school environments, but they are not taking into account that these have no backup plan and shouldn’t be done without further investigation on their safety and efficacy. But the other 80% of this survey done in 2005, strongly disagreed with the Office of National Drug Control Policy and stated that no student should be randomly tested for drug intoxication.

These tests are offensive and often times can be found aggressive. Students can react in emotional and mental breakdowns, the purpose of these tests are being corrupted and have deviated from the real cause, which is protecting students and protecting their future. We need to keep in mind that the purpose is not to punish adolescent drug users but encourage them to not use them.

Although people think that drug testing discourages drug use, a study made by the University of Michigan shows that this is totally false for marijuana usage. The largest federally funded study in this field so far, surveyed more than 76,000 students, illustrates no difference on marijuana habits between not tested and tested schools.

To conclude, testing random students is inappropriate and useless. On the other hand, it has been shown that selective tests come in much more handier and have much more positive effects. But it is important to acknowledge that any drug testing demonstrates a lack of confidence in the school’s community, students and parents. It also casts doubt on the people trusted with our education and the learning of life skills, making teenagers much more troublesome.