Alcohol High School Testing in Schools, Should it Happen?

When it comes to drug and alcohol high school testing , what is more important: Protecting constitutional rights or protecting students? The consensus from students is surprising. There are just as many students for random drug testing as against and in some schools, more students are for random testing than not. The same opinion varies among parents, counselors, coaches and teachers.

There is a big majority of some schools’ who believe there is a big alcohol and a drug problem affecting students. Recent high profile court decisions have determined that it is unconstitutional to randomly test students for drugs and alcohol. The schools that were randomly testing students were testing students who were involved in extracurricular activities- meaning these students had the choice to participate, unlike regular classes required by law. Private schools also fell into this category.

Because the school is private, different laws and regulations differ from public, government-run schools, so they were able to randomly test students. The schools who were randomly testing students all acted on “reasonable cause,” like obvious evidence of increased drug or alcohol use on campus. Now, with recent constitutional cases, schools who were about to begin random alcohol/drug testing have postponed their program until further decisions by state and federal courts.

 
How Are Students Tested Now?

Students were previously tested using two different methods; urine testing and mouth swab tests for saliva testing. Previously, using either urine or the swabbing tests would only measure very recent alcohol or drug use. Now with EtG alcohol and drug testing, ethyl glucuronide testing, a sample now is able to test several days of prior alcohol and drug use, where it wasn’t possible before. Both urine and swabbing testing are intrusive and cost money to perform. Under current alcohol high school testing rules, a student who tested positive would not face criminal charges, but face varying lengths of suspensions from sports or other extra curricular activities. The student would still attend classes but also be required to attend an approved treatment program.

 
New Testing Devices For Alcohol High School Testing

Hair alcohol testing is the latest and most accurate form of testing on the market today. With only an inch worth of scalp hair from a student, as much as 30 days of alcohol and drug use can be revealed using EtG testing. The instrument used for hair alcohol testing is called a liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, it is a sensitive machine used for testing the smallest of particles in a sample. Besides schools, lawyers, social workers and employers are finding that this type of hair alcohol testing is a far superior way to test someone for recent as well as past alcohol and drug abuse. Plus, hair alcohol testing is by far the least intrusive way to test someone’s metabolites.

Until there is a consensus in the U.S. courts over the rights of students with regards to random alcohol and drug testing, parents, teachers and coaches can only encourage students to abstain with the threat of other consequences or perhaps it will be a peer issue to threaten each other, “continue to abuse and we are all tested via police force, not just by a concerned counselor.”