Bill Would Fund School-Based Drug Testing Program

Headlines about teen drug use make the point clearly: “Drug-Free Schools: An Oxymoron,” “Marijuana Use Among Teens Up Since 1992,” “Heroin Finds Market in Young People,” and “Parents Underrate Children’s Exposure to Drugs.”

These articles reveal that our children are routinely exposed to drugs. According to a recent study by the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University, 76% of high school students and 46% of middle school students said that drugs were kept, used or sold at their schools.

President Clinton’s drug policy office declared that marijuana use is so prevalent that it accounts for more than 80% of the nation’s drug use.

Still leery? The Columbia survey pointed out that students see more drug deals at their own schools than anywhere else. These facts should send a chill down the spine of anyone responsible for the future of a child.

As parents, we worry about our children’s exposure to drugs when they are at school. As an elected official, I know the wealth of news stories has set off alarm bells in Congress and in classrooms throughout the country. Sadly, a rash of Band-Aid programs administered by Washington bureaucrats does nothing to halt an all-time high in teen drug use. Despite increasingly larger piles of tax dollars thrown at the problem, the number of teenage drug users climbs with each day that passes.

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We must provide parents the tools they need to keep their children off drugs. I think I have found an important weapon for that arsenal.

I plan to introduce legislation, called the Parental Consent Drug Testing and Counseling Act, that would provide $500 million for local, school-based drug testing and counseling with parental consent.

Funds would be sent directly to local education programs, targeting all schools--urban, suburban and rural. This money would be made available for local schools to set up their own programs geared to the needs of their community. What’s more, students could be tested for drugs only when parents gave consent or “opted in” to the program. No student would ever be tested without the consent and guidance of a parent or legal guardian.

What if a student tested positive? Would the police be called? This bill ensures that parents would be the only ones given the results of any test. The results would otherwise be required by law to be kept confidential. There would be no criminal referral under my proposed legislation.

Helping a student beat a drug habit involves more than just discovery. Along with confidentiality, the Parental Consent Drug Testing and Counseling Act would provide $500 million more to be granted to state and local agencies to start or supplement community-based intervention and counseling programs.

Just as a parents would be given the confidential option to take advantage of such a program, so too would they be given the option to confidentially enroll their child in local counseling programs to end their drug abuse. We must approach this problem from all angles.

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I have visited dozens of community-based intervention centers. The message to me during these trips is clear: Put the resources of the federal government behind those who know how to win the war on drugs. The Parental Consent Drug Testing and Counseling Act would do just that.

Drug testing has proven to be a successful program for companies across the country. Parents who care about their children need to know if drugs are being abused. If they are, they need access to professional help.

It is time to quit talking about student drug abuse. It is time to do something about it.