This year will be the first year that schools in Texas will start drug testing children as young as 12 – and some people are not very pleased.
In a notice sent out to the parents and students of one school district in Texas, the Superintendent notified the families that the drug testing would begin this year and outlined the penalty for refusing or failing these tests.
Bushland Independent School District students will be required to comply with mandatory drug testing at random points throughout the year – and as many as 10 times.
The new measure is meant to enforce the school’s current zero-tolerance drug policy and those who fail or refuse the tests will be barred from extracurricular activities, events, and even parking on school property.
The policy applies to grades seven through twelve and these drug tests will look for alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, heroin, and opiates.
“If they’re interested in athletics, if they’re interested in drama, if they’re interested in band — any of the things that we offer extracurricular, it gives them an opportunity to say no to peer pressure and say ‘I’m not going to do that because I want to participate,’ ” District Superintendent Chris Wigington told ABC News.
Currently, several other districts in Texas already have drug testing programs in place.
While many believe this is a great step forward for the district, some people commenting on The Hill’s story about the change have other thoughts.
“Why stop there? Why not get 1 week old embryos tested? They’re people too right?” one follower said.
Another suggested that the change is meant to benefit someone’s financial motive with a stake in the drug testing company.
“Wanna bet that some local politician has an interest in a drug testing company?”
Further comments suggest that this violates a constitutional right – which the Supreme Court already issued a ruling on.
“‘If a student refuses to provide a sample, they will be deemed to have a positive result.’ Unconstitutional. It’s like pleading the fifth. You cannot deem someone guilty simply b/c they plead the fifth. They can keep kids from the extracurricular activities, but they cannot deem them to have a positive drug test. This is more overstepping by government.”
In 2002 the Supreme Court ruled that drug testing students does not violate their constitutional rights.
What do you think of this new school policy?