Despite some recent progress in combating adolescent drug use amongst students, by organizations such as SACENDU and SADAP, drug use within schools still remains a major problem for South Africa. However, the question does pose of whether or not random drug testing within schools will have an effect on the amount of drug usage within schools. According to a survey done in the United States, where 94 high schools were surveyed. Each principal was asked to compare drug activity during the 1999-2000 school year when drug testing policies were in effect with the 2000-2001 school year when schools were not allowed to continue with their random drug testing policies.
The results recorded were as follows… 85% of the principals reported an increase in drug usage after drug testing was stopped…78% of principals reported that there was an increase in the number of students who came forward and told them that drug usage was on the rise since drug testing was stopped.
This clearly shows that drug testing within schools undoubtedly had an effect on the use of drugs within schools; it also shows the support of drug testing by the students. Drug testing policies will indefinitely decrease the usage of drugs within schools; it will create a much safer learning environment for students to interact in, ultimately improving school performance levels.
We propose a policy that will ensure a decrease in drug usage within schools; we propose that all schools have a weekly test of 10 students randomly selected throughout the school. These students will need to either provide a urine or saliva sample in order to be tested, if tested positive, the student will undergo another two step process to ensure error free test results. The two step process will entail another drug test by using alternative technology to confirm the result, followed by a review of the test by a medical review officer. To ensure corruption and error free testing.
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