The Controversy of Mandatory Drug Testing

In the state of Minnesota approximately one out of every four kids at the young age of twelve have either consumed alcohol or used some sort of illicit drug. The numbers are staggering and they keep rising: By the age of eighteen, one out of three people have used drugs or alcohol, and by the age of 26 nearly half of the people have used drugs or alcohol. It’s getting out of control and the public is becoming very concerned. The government is cracking down on illegal drug trade, and the consequences of being caught with drugs are getting harsher. Yet, the statistics keep on rising. People are beginning to turn to the schools for help. Mandatory drug testing in schools is a very controversial subject in today’s society. This paper looks at both sides of the issues and arguments of mandatory drug testing: Will mandatory drug testing even be effective? Is the government taking away too much of our privacy?

How could mandatory drug testing in schools help lower the statistics? According to Ryan, “Parents help keep kids off of drugs. When parents aren’t around their children, the kids get the opportunity to make bad choices. Like when they’re at school.” He’s right; statistics show that the more parents are involved with their kids, the rate of doing drugs drops, dramatically. Giving kids drug tests in schools would help close that amount of time open to experiment with giving them more authority when their parents aren’t watching.

Another question arises, how would giving mandatory drug tests be effective in lowering drug use? That question would depend of the consequences of failing a drug test. School’s debating the topic say that it’s more than likely that they would inform the parents and probably offer some sort of chemical dependency help or therapy. A lot of people wonder how mandatory drug testing would affect school as a whole. Colin stated, “It shows who’s actually there and dedicated to their schooling. People would be less disruptive and grades would improve.” Colin is right too. Kids who are on drugs almost always have a lower GPA than kids who are clean.

An issue concerning with the effectiveness of mandatory drug testing is that kids would find ways around it. Just search the web for it. For instance just a few products, out of thousands, that I found online to help pass an U.A include:

• The Ultra Klean Detox Drink- A herbal drink that says it’s 500% effective in cleaning out your system in just a matter of days.

• The