Drug Testing Students

Finding the Drugs

I was talking to my niece yesterday about her high school experience.  She’s just finished up her associate’s degree and was accepted to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV).  She mentioned she was a bit upset about the drug testing that was going on back at her high school in Oklahoma.  I guess it wasn’t what she considered “fair”. 

Now I’m not in favor of drugs and think drug testing is a good idea.  But I guess this school in Oklahoma wasn’t quite doing it right.  My niece said no one on the football team was tested.  Actually, that’s not true.  One kid’s mother was doing her own home drug testing and her son was showing positive for drugs there.  She contacted the school and wanted him tossed off the football team, but the school refused.  They also refused to do any drug tests on him themselves because if he came up positive, he wouldn’t be able to play football.

Football aside, if a student wanted to participate in any other extracurricular activity they had to be drug tested.  If you failed, you weren’t allowed to participate in the activity anymore.  The chess club was totally decimated mostly because there was only one kid in the school who had joined the chess club, and he failed his random test.  Consequently he was told he could no longer play chess.

Some members of the school band failed their drug test and were told they could no longer play instruments.  So the band then no longer had a percussion or woodwind section and only one trumpet player was left. Two cheerleaders were no longer allowed to participate and several members of the “flag team” were told they could no longer carry or wave flags.

One kid who liked to sit in the library when not in class failed the drug test and was told he could no longer sit in the library.  How dare he read books after not passing a drug test!

Now if a student was selected for drug testing they had approximately half an hour to fill a bottle with urine.  If you couldn’t fill the bottle in the allotted time, you failed the test.  So if you used the bathroom before getting to school you’d still better produce some piss in half an hour, or else!  The testing company didn’t have much time!  Perhaps the testing employees should have been tested a bit themselves?  So in a way, the drug testing wasn’t about whether or not a student was actually testing positive for any kind of drugs, it was more about being able to piss on demand.  And the kids who couldn’t do that were told they could no longer participate in things.  What a great life lesson, huh?

In case you’re curious, my niece was not selected for testing probably because she didn’t participate in any extracurricular activities.  She spent most of her time studying.  If she had been selected and failed the test perhaps the school would have told her she could no longer study?  Either learn to piss on command or we’ll take away all your books!

Now yes, I understand the importance of trying to keep drugs out of schools.  And I went through something a bit like this while in the U.S. Air force.  We would have random drug checks, but you would be put in a room and couldn’t leave until you filled the provided cup with urine, however we weren’t given a half hour time limit.  As long as you didn’t leave the room before filling the cup, you could wait a few hours if need be because you didn’t have to pee at the moment.  The military understood that some airmen go to the bathroom before going to their work place!

So is this school in Oklahoma really interested in stopping drug use?  Or are they more interested in making money for the drug testing company that will fail a student for not being able to pee on command?  It’s sad when a place gets this corrupt, especially a supposed “learning institution”.