With our presence at the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s summits this year, we prevented the Drug Czar from having the last word on random student drug testing.

With your support I have been able to shadow the Drug Czar's office and organize opposition at all four summits in 2007. Many of you attended the summits and distributed literature, engaged educators, and kept presenters on their toes with tough questions. Others wrote letters to the editor, called your representative or provided critical financial support. We countered the ONDCP’s one-sided claims with the vital information they exclude, such as the objection of the National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association of Social Workers to testing.

The last summit of 2007 took place in April in Las Vegas. In contrast to the earlier Newark and Honolulu summits, where the designated table for “Non-ONDCP Materials” was relegated to a far, dark corner or positioned behind a trellis, in Las Vegas the table was placed near the registration table. This time ONDCP staff did not attempt to block us from speaking with the media. New Jersey school principal Chris Steffner, a frequent summit presenter, approached me to discuss the issue. While the ONDCP certainly made no move towards allowing the kind of fair and balanced discussion one would hope from a government meeting, they did shift their approach to acknowledge our presence.

Local media in Las Vegas were eager to learn about our concerns that testing can inflame adolescent rebellion, marginalize at-risk students, and make open communication more difficult. I did five television interviews and one radio interview, and spoke with the Las Vegas Review-Journal as well as the Associated Press. Las Vegas Channel 8 picked up our message that scare tactics usually backfire with teens, that young people need an honest dialogue in a supportive environment, and that drug testing will push more students away rather than engaging them.

In Charleston, Newark, Honolulu and Las Vegas we helped stimulate informed discussion and debate on this important issue. We also informed the national dialogue, contributing to important coverage in The New York Times, CNN and Newsweek.

Our fight against this counter-productive approach extends beyond the summits. This week, Marsha Rosenbaum, Director of the Safety First Project, published an editorial in USA Today arguing that there is no quick fix for the complex issue of substance abuse. DPA also recently presented the harms of testing at the National Association of School Psychologists and filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Washington Education Association in a case that challenges a school district’s policy before the Washington State Supreme Court. Read news coverage of the case.

Please keep an eye on your inbox for more opportunities to oppose random, suspicionless student drug testing.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Kern
Drug Testing Fails Campaign Coordinator
Drug Policy Alliance