What is the Relation between drug use in students, and mandatory drug tests in schools?
1. Mandatory drug testing helps prevent abuse
1.1. Students are being encouraged at three Westmoreland County school districts to join a random drug-screening program("Westmooreland students").
1.1.1. Prevention coordinator Janet Hoffer"The Westmoreland County Drug and Alcohol Commission introduced the program to school districts in August after garnering more than 7,500 participants in Cambria, Clearfield, Indiana and Somerset counties over the years"
1.1.1.1. I think that they're doing a good job in getting people to join the drug-screening program.
1.1.2. Shivetts said "the district plans to test about 30 percent to 40 percent of the participants randomly throughout the semester."
1.1.2.1. This means it's more effective, because the tests are random so the kids won't know when it is.
1.2. A good way to prevent drug use is drug-testing in schools ("Random Student").
1.2.1. The 2008 Monitoring the Future states that "drug use among school-age youth has been in a state of decline since the 1990's; however, the proportions of 8th- and 12th-grade students indicating any use of an illicit drug in the 12 months prior to the survey showed rather modest increases since the previous year."("Random Student")
1.2.1.1. This shows that drug testing students is making a difference in drug use rates.
1.2.2. The 2007 survey on Drug Use and Health reports "students who use drugs are statistically more likely to dropout of school, bring guns to school, steal, and be involved in fighting or other delinquent behavior."("Random Student")
1.2.2.1. This connects to the viewpoint, because it shows what COULD happen if students use drugs.
1.3. This author believes that mandatory drug testing will prevent abuse, because they think if they have something to look forward to like a reward they will stop doing drugs.
1.4. This author believes that mandatory drug testing will help prevent abuse, because it'll be harder for them not to get caught if they randomly get tested.
2. Mandatory drug tests doesn't help prevention of abuse
2.1. A drug testing program was agreed on to take place in the school district in Carroll County Georgia(Ingrahm).
2.1.1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states "18 percent of public high schools -- nearly 1 in 5 -- have mandatory drug-testing policies like the one Carroll County adopted."(Ingrahm)
2.1.1.1. I think that if these schools really believe that drug-testing will prevent drug use they would have more than 18% of public high schools participating.
2.1.2. Clarence Thomas says "We find that testing students who participate in extracurricular activities is a reasonably effective means of addressing the school district's legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and detecting drug use,"
2.1.2.1. I think that this is a reasonable choice to test students that are in extracurricular activities, because sport coaches, ect. do not tolerate drugs.
2.2. Drug-testing students is not good solution to stop drug abuse; stopping use is still what schools are striving to do("Drug Testing").
2.2.1. The writer explains that "22 percent of 12th-graders report binge drinking (five or more drinks in a row over the past two weeks), 11 percent report using synthetic marijuana ("Spice"), 8 percent abuse the opioid painkiller Vicodin, and 8 percent abuse amphetamines''("Drug Testing").
2.2.1.1. This connects to the viewpoint because it proves that drug-testing will not stop drug abuse.
2.2.2. According to an article of American Journal of Public Health "Drug testing of students generally increased in the early 21st century, with approximately 25 percent of districts with a middle- and/or high-school having a student drug-testing policy, and 56 percent of those districts (or 14 percent of districts overall)"("Drug Testing")
2.2.2.1. This means that drug testing obviously is not working for preventing drug use.