Strategies for Success, New Pathways to Drug Abuse Prevention

Issue 2 • Volume 1

Fall/Winter 2007

Washington, DC Conference Focuses on Random Drug Testing

On June 25 and 26, 2007, in Washington, DC, the Institute for Behavior and Health sponsored its first annual random student drug testing (RSDT) conference. The keynote address was presented by John Walters, Director of National Drug Control Policy, who talked about the future of RSDT and the benefits of including screening in anti-drug strategies. Speaking at the opening dinner, Dr. Bertha Madras, Deputy Director for Demand Reduction, Office of National Drug Control Policy, reviewed the scientific rationale behind random drug testing.

More than two dozen leaders in this promising and rapidly growing drug-abuse-prevention field gave presentations describing state-of-the-art practices. Speakers included Karen Tandy, then Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA); Charles H. Muston, Jr., Principal, Mooresville Consolidated School Corporation; David Evans of the Drug-Free Schools Coalition; and Joyce Nalepka of Drug-Free Kids: America's Challenge.

Conference organizer Robert DuPont, MD, observed: “Many presentations at the meeting focused on the positive effects of RSDT, from lowered drug use to an improved academic environment.” Another common theme, he said, centered on “the opportunities non-punitive RSDT creates to identify student drug use early. This permits interventions and treatment, when needed, to help students get and stay drug-free.”

DEA Administrator Tandy spoke about prevention, treatment, and supply-reduction efforts working in synergy to help young people face and overcome tough challenges. “DEA and student drug testing programs are perfect partners in this fight,” she said. “Your work reduces addiction, which reduces demand, which reduces the law-enforcement workload. And DEA supports you, giving your prevention and treatment efforts a chance by reducing the tempting supply of cheap, plentiful drugs.” Describing the DEA as the “last resort,” Tandy urged participants to “stay strong in your resolve to give our kids the tools to Teflon-coat them from drugs.”

Other speakers at the conference discussed school drug testing policies and community drug prevention practices, such as developing relationships with local businesses that can lead, for example, to programs that provide discounts to students who participate in drug screening. Sample school policies can be found at www.randomstudentdrugtesting.org/additionalresources.html

Profiles of Schools with Random Drug Testing

Schools with random student drug testing (RSDT) programs report progress in combating the threat of illegal drug use. Below are some RSDT school systems seeing signs that their efforts are paying off.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Results of a survey show that students participating in the district’s random drug testing program were less likely (34.6 percent) to have used marijuana in their lifetime than those not in the program (49.3 percent). According to the 2006 Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Survey and Prevention Planning Survey, more than 38 percent of non-participating students reported past-year marijuana use, compared with 26.4 percent of those enrolled in the drug testing program.

Sesser-Valier Unit School District #196
Sesser, Illinois
Using results of the Sesser-Valier Student Drug Testing Survey, school officials determined the district had met its goal of reducing student drug use in the 2005-2006 school year by 5 percent over the previous year. According to the survey, 83 percent of Sesser-Valier students in 2005-2006 reported never having used drugs, compared with 73 percent the year before. The number reporting no drug use in the past 30 days grew from 85 percent in 2005 to 93 percent in 2006.

Letcher County Public Schools
Whitesburg, Kentucky
More than half (52 percent) of students in grades 10-12 responding to a student survey reported that they or a close friend had stopped or cut down on their drug use in the past year because they were subject to ran dom drug tests.

MSD Southwest Allen County Schools
Fort Wayne, Indiana
The rates for positive drug tests at district schools in 2005-2006 were lower than anticipated: 1.8 percent the first semester and 1.4 percent for the second. One positive outcome of random drug testing, district officials reported, is that it confirms some parents’ concerns about their children’s drug use and alerts others to a problem they had not known existed. Through testing, students identified as drug users are able to receive guidance or assistance they might not have sought on their own.

Marion County Public Schools
Ocala, Florida
Administrators hoped that 70 percent of students participating in the random drug testing program that began in October 2005 would test negative for drug use. Actual performance data showed that 98 percent tested negative, exceeding the goal by 28 percentage points.

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