Student drug testing hits snag

By Lynda Arakawa
Advertiser Capitol Bureau

A proposal to test high-school students for drug use is running into problems in the Legislature, as two Senate committees yesterday opted to study the issue further rather than push the idea.

Drug testing for high schools is largely backed by Senate President Robert Bunda, D-22nd (North Shore, Wahiawa), who introduced the measure and first brought up the idea in his opening-day speech last month. Gov. Linda Lingle also supported the concept in her State of the State address a week later.

Senate Bill 1471 would establish a drug-testing pilot project at several public high schools, making the tests mandatory for students who participate in school athletic activities or "physically strenuous" co-curricular activities. That provision is based on a U.S. Supreme Court decision that found an Oregon school district's student athlete drug-testing program constitutional.

Students who tested positive on a hair analysis would be referred to counseling or treatment rather than punished.

An overwhelming majority of those who testified before the Senate Education and Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs committees yesterday said they appreciated the bill's intent, but said it was rife with problems. Some senators raised similar concerns.

"At this point, there are many unanswered questions, and there's concerns about the funding; there's concerns about the privacy, confidentiality; concerns about potential liability," said Senate Education Committee Chairman Norman Saka-moto, D-15th (Waimalu, Airport, Salt Lake), after the hearing. "So since it's still very much a work in prog-ress, the feeling was if we did a (resolution) to try to convene a group or a process to address the issues, that would be better at this point."

Elaine Wilson, chief of the state Department of Health's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division, said a survey in 2000 found 14 percent of students in grades six through 12 need substance-abuse treatment.

Opponents of the bill said drug problems among students should be handled through more prevention programs, and that testing would accomplish little amid a lack of treatment programs in schools.

"Until funds are available for treatment, what's the point of identifying children in need?" said Pam Lichty, a drug-treatment advocate and board president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai'i.

Opponents also questioned why drug testing should target students who participate in sports and other activities, who are less likely to take drugs. They said such a program might even discourage at-risk students from getting involved in extracurricular activities, which typically deters students from substance abuse.

They also expressed concern about the expense of drug testing.

Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona called the proposal a "bold and assertive first step" in dealing with drug problems among Hawai'i students, and said the cost for the state likely would be low. He said he already had received some private-sector interest in working with the state on the program.

Other supporters of the bill, such as the Honolulu city prosecutor's office, said drug testing would be an effective deterrent to experimenting with drugs, and that preventing drug problems would save the criminal justice system money in the future.

Wilson cited an Oregon study that found 5.7 percent of athletes in a school with drug testing used illegal drugs within a month, compared with 19.4 percent at a school without testing.