The Office of National Drug Control Policy, in its aggressive promotion of student drug testing, went so far as to lobby against proposed quality-control regulations for testing procedures in New Jersey. 

At a hearing in Trenton last week, ONDCP deputy director Bertha Madras testified that the current absence of standards for drug testing procedures works just fine. This attempt to block standards is particularly disturbing coming from a branch of the federal government, which upholds strict regulations for federal workplace drug testing.

Roseanne Scotti, director of DPA's New Jersey office, also testified at the hearing, saying, "These policies and procedures are critical to ensuring that the random drug testing that is done in our schools is of the highest quality and the least prone to errors that might cause false positives or false negatives."

Right now, it is common for drug tests to be administered by school nurses, without sufficient training in administering tests or interpreting the results. Most schools also use cheaper, less accurate on-site drug testing technology rather than state-licensed clinical laboratories. A recent study published in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, found that even under rigorous conditions, as many as 21% of tests returned false positives, and often completely missed the use of certain drugs such as OxyCodone.

The danger of erroneous results is one of many problems with random student drug testing. Testing may prompt students to drink more alcohol, which is not checked in most drug tests. It can also deter students from participating in extracurricular activities, which are the best proven resource for preventing teen drug use. Random drug testing, on the other hand, is not proven effective in scientific literature. In fact, the largest study on the subject concluded that random drug testing made no impact on drug use rates among students.

The New Jersey regulations would not address most of these issues, but they would help to mitigate the problem of inaccurate results. The rules would bring schools into compliance with a New Jersey Department of Health statute that requires testing programs to either use state-licensed clinical laboratories or become certified as state-licensed laboratories. The regulations, proposed by the state Board of Education, are set for a final ruling in October.

Student drug testing is also making news in other states. In Tennessee earlier this month, the attorney general said that random testing of students as a condition of participation in extracurricular activities violates the state law, which requires reasonable suspicion of drug use before a student can be tested. Many Tennessee schools have canceled their testing programs in response to the opinion, concerned about the possibility of costly litigation.

“While the ONDCP is relentless in promoting student drug testing programs, it is reassuring to learn about state officials demanding safeguards for students or recognizing students' rights and ruling against the policy altogether,” said Jennifer Kern, coordinator of DPA’s public education campaign against student drug testing.