Letter from Director Walters and Secretary Spellings
In his Recovery Month Proclamation of September 2007, the President stated his continued commitment to help the Nation’s “young people make healthy choices throughout their lives and to encourage community- and family-based approaches to the challenges and risks facing today’s youth.”
Focusing on youth is effective. Since 2001, according to Monitoring the Future (2007), current youth use of any illicit drug has decreased by 24 percent; marijuana use has decreased 25 percent; and steroid use has decreased by a third. Alcohol use, including binge drinking, and cigarette smoking have decreased by 15 and 33 percent, respectively. These impressive results are the outcome of clear messages from family, school, community, and government that youth drug use is dangerous and not condoned.
Schools can play a central role in helping young people make healthy choices. Today, most students who begin using drugs are not targeted by an unknown drug dealer. The spread of drug use often closely mirrors the way a disease is spread—from student-to-student contact, multiplying rapidly as more and more students are affected. Random student drug testing can provide young people with a reason never to start using drugs, protecting them during a time when they are the most vulnerable to peer pressure and the adverse health effects of drug use. The ability of schools to tap into random testing’s tremendous potential was affirmed by landmark Supreme Court decisions in 1995 and 2002.
By addressing the continuum of drug use from pre-initiation to drug dependency, random testing can stop the pipeline to addiction, help create a culture of disapproval toward drugs, and contribute to safer school environments. Random testing programs can also respond to emerging drug trends, such as the abuse of prescription drugs, which 12- and 13-year-olds are abusing more than marijuana. Schools can help address this serious and growing problem by adapting test panels to reflect current drug threats.
Issue III of Strategies for Success covers many of the building blocks of a testing program, including privacy issues, implementation, and funding. These topics are also addressed at Summits hosted by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Information about upcoming Summits and presentations from previous Summits are available at www.randomstudentdrugtesting.org.
Random student drug testing can be an important component of a comprehensive prevention plan, protecting America’s youth, and making schools safer places. Statistics on the scope and extent of random student drug testing are now available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s School Health Policies and Programs Study, one of the first national studies to collect data on this topic. The study indicates that more than 4,000 schools nationwide are conducting random student drug testing.
We hope the resources presented in this newsletter are helpful in implementing strong and successful prevention programs. Though remarkable progress has been made to prevent drug and alcohol use by young people, there still is much work to be done. Parents and educators, schools and community coalitions, and others who work with young people all have unique opportunities to intervene and help reduce the spread of substance abuse.
John P. Walters, Director
National Drug Control Policy
Margaret Spellings
U.S. Secretary of Education
