Everett, Wash.
Published: Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Wage war on teenage drug abuse

The loss of random drug testing for prep athletes and others is a setback, but schools still need a vigorous strategy to battle the problem.

 When Bob Knight coached at Indiana University, he was invited to be a guest speaker at one of the state's high schools.

He talked a little about basketball, but mostly he talked about the problems young people face. Then he took questions.

One student stood up and asked Knight where he stood on random drug testing.

"If it were up to me, I'd have every one of you (favorite Knight expletive) tested," he said.

When it came to drugs and underage use of alcohol, Knight didn't have much use for politics or the American Civil Liberties Union or right-to-privacy lawsuits. Knight might have been a tyrant, an insufferable boor and a profane bully, but he hated drugs more than he hated losing to Purdue. Give him credit.

We bring this up because of the unfortunate suspension of random drug testing for athletes and others who participate in extracurricular activities at Lake Stevens High School.

The school board voted unanimously to end the program following a Washington State Supreme Court ruling that such practice is unconstitutional.

Instead, the high school intends to offer drug testing to students who volunteer to be tested and whose parents agree.

Lake Stevens High School was one of a few in the state that had a random drug testing program. Since 2006, 10 of the 500 students who submitted urine specimens tested positive for drugs. They still attended classes after the positive tests, but were suspended 23 days from extracurricular activities, were required to take a personal drug assessment and enroll in a treatment program if recommended.

Knight would approve. I don't often agree with him, but I do here.

Even if it did abolish the random nature of drug testing, the court still allows school districts the opportunity to take an active, if reduced, role in the fight against drugs and alcohol by permitting testing of those who volunteer.

Sure, you say. It'll be about as effective as if schools offer bonus advanced trigonometry exams to those who volunteer.

Yet, if school officials and parents work it right, the volunteer programs still could have some teeth.

They could get coaches of school sports teams and advisers of other extracurricular activities to vigorously recommend their participants volunteer to be tested. While it falls short of testing as a prerequisite to participation, perhaps schools can make a dent in the problem when coupled with frank, rigorous drug and alcohol education, especially if parents approve it, support it and campaign for it.

How serious is the problem? According to the Bureau of Justice:

n Of high school seniors in 2005, 44.8 reported having used hashish or marijuana;

n 8 percent reported having used cocaine;

n 1.5 percent reported having used heroin.

Between 1992 and 2005, past-month users of marijuana increased from:

n 12 percent to 20 percent among high school seniors;

n 8 percent to 15 percent among 10th graders;

n 4 percent to 7 percent among eighth graders.

In 2006, high school seniors said they could obtain the following drugs fairly easily or very easily:

n Marijuana, 84.9 percent.

n Amphetamines, 52.9 percent.

n Cocaine, 46.5 percent.

n Barbiturates 43.8 percent.

n Crack, 38.8 percent.

n LSD 29 percent.

n Heroin, 27.4 percent.

n Crystal methamphetamine, 26.7.

I understand the importance of personal privacy. I sympathize with much of what the ACLU stands for. I also have a daughter going into high school in September and I want to know that her school provides every possible safeguard against the use of controlled substances, regardless of her sense of privacy.

Lake Stevens had it right. We hope the recent setback brought by the Washington State Supreme Court will deter neither school officials nor parents to push on in their attempts to fight teen drug and alcohol abuse.

Sports columnist John Sleeper: sleeper@heraldnet.com. To reach Sleeper's blog, "Dangling Participles," go to www.heraldnet.com/danglingparticiples.
© 2009The Daily Herald Co., Everett, WA