Last year, activists met the Office of National Drug Control Policy with sharp questions and literature at every stop on the Drug Czar's tour to promote potentially harmful random student drug testing. Just last month, following education efforts by the Drug Policy Alliance of New Jersey, a New Jersey school district recommended against moving forward with a random student drug testing proposal. Our public education efforts about the dangers of random student drug testing are working.

But the ONDCP persists in pursuing its failed strategy.  Despite such strong opposition, the Drug Czar's staff are intensifying their efforts to convince local educators to start drug testing students--randomly and without cause. This winter, the ONDCP is hosting five student drug testing summits over the next two months -- more than double the number they held in the same time frame last year.

We will not let the Drug Czar have the last word on random student drug testing. On last year’s tour, many educators expressed dissatisfaction with the one-sided information provided by the ONDCP, and were grateful to hear what we had to say: that random student drug testing is unsupported by the best available research, and can deter students from extracurricular activities--the very activities that increase students' connection to their schools and to caring adults.

This year, the tour may be coming to your area. This is your chance to make your opposition heard loud and clear! Visit our online toolkit and keep an eye on your inbox for information how to organize a group to attend the summit near you, ask questions that will really put drug testing enthusiasts on the spot, and arm yourself with literature that attendees can take home. Even if none of the summits are close enough for you to attend, you can still get involved by spreading the word. Mark your calendar now!

Meeting locations and dates are:

Des Moines, WA, January 17, 2008
Jacksonville, FL, January 29, 2008
Oklahoma City, OK, January 31, 2008
Albuquerque, NM, February 6, 2008
Indianapolis, IN, February 13, 2008

We want to ensure that educators and media understand that these surveillance programs are ineffective and harmful, deterring students from joining extracurricular activities, eroding relationships of trust at school, creating bizarre incentives to binge drink or switch to harder drugs that leave the body quickly, and perniciously undermining our most intimate notions of privacy and basic rights.

Chris Chiles of SSDP’s University of Michigan Chapter attended the summit in Detroit last September and advises summit attendees to “focus on reaching as many people as you can during the break times and especially during the registration period. Make sure everyone gets a pamphlet. Be sure your presence is felt. Ask a lot of questions. Play by their rules, but assert your position.” Click here to read more reflections and tips from members who attended past summits.

Please join us in spreading the word. Email Jennifer Kern, DPA’s Drug Testing Fails Campaign Coordinator, to get more information about how you can get involved.