BOE vs EARLS

Being a former high school athlete and involved in the student government, I find it very hard to be for or against a drug policy in schools. I think applying a drug policy for all students would be the best option if they were going to enforce the policy at all. A school’s number one priority is to keep students safe. Is implementing a drug policy a good measure for keeping school safe? I found an article that related to this topic showing firsthand accounts of what students thought about a drug policy implemented in their school. Looking at the quotes from various students provided in this article, many students felt like Lindsay and James to the point that it violated their privacy, which the fourth amendment protects. I disagree with the students to an extent. What is the big deal of drug testing? If you are not doing drugs then you should have no problem taking the test. The drug test policy, as I have discussed in our implications piece is set in place for safety reasons not for punishment. The drug test points out the problem so the school can then help the student's get off the drugs. If a student is doing drugs and tests positive, then the school and the student are both breaking the law right. Enforcing the drug policy would be a good choice because it could prevent kids from using drugs in school. The DARE program can only reach a small group of people.
In contrast, the drug test policy can also be bad thing. The drug test policy only tests for illegal drugs letting the students find other means of getting high. Bottom line is this, if a child is doing drugs they are not going to worry about being caught, or whom it will affect. I think that Earl and James were doing drugs and needed to buy time by taking this case to court. Another reason the two students may have taken their case so far could be that they wanted to be noticed for a radical idea by going against the school. Why do people have to be so liberal all the time? Instead of asking questions on how schools do things, students should try to weigh the pros and cons of every argument then go from there. Another reason I would be against drug testing in public schools would be the cost effect of meaningless tests if there were no real drug problem. Another article I read was on how drug policies were proven to have no correlation with drug use rates decreasing when the policy was in place. Another case where I would disagree with the drug test policy would be a case such as this one; a student is involved in different programs and uses drugs. The student is kicked off the team because he tests positive. Intern, the student starts to use drugs even more just to cope with the loss. There has to be a better way when dealing with students who do drugs. The reason why people in general do drugs is to elude their reality. The school along with the parents should work together to see what void the student is trying to fill by doing drugs and fix that instead of kicking them off a team were they feel accepted in the “real world”. Overall, I think this is a very controversial case with good points on both ends of the argument.
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02.n1545.a01.html
http://www.slate.com/id/2138399/