Posted on: Friday, January 17, 2003
2003 LEGISLATURE
Student drug tests debated
By Catherine E. Toth
Advertiser Staff Writer
While parents, educators and state officials agree something should be done to address drug use in Hawai'i's schools, many believe mandatory drug testing of all students may be going too far.
Senate President Robert Bunda, D-22nd (North Shore, Wahiawa) on Wednesday called for random drug tests for all students in public and maybe private schools using hair samples, which would detect drug use in the past 90 days.
The proposal has sparked debate among state and school officials about costs, effectiveness, civil rights and need.
"The goal is admirable, to stem drug use in Hawai'i," said Karen Knudsen, state Board of Education member. "But should it befall the responsibility of the schools?"
Bunda doesn't have answers to all the questions but believes in the proposal.
As a parent, he feels strongly about doing something about the drug problem in Hawai'i's schools.
"I have kids in middle school," Bunda said. "So I know there's weed in the schools. I say let's debate the issue, let's bring it forward and see if it's got some merit."
Under his proposal, drug testing would be mandatory for athletes, and students suspected by teachers or parents of substance abuse could be referred.
The hope is that drug testing will detect students who may potentially develop a substance abuse problem and provide appropriate treatment to help them, said Bunda.
Drug testing is rare at schools nationwide. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the legality of testing for students in extracurricular activities but has not ruled on the random testing of all students at a school.
And drug use among Hawai'i's youth has fallen since peaking in 1996.
"We need evidence that this will be useful," Knudsen said. "If we identify a child smoking marijuana over the weekend, what do we do with this information? Do we turn him over to police? Do we place him in a drug treatment program? What would be the role of the schools?"
Hawai'i has never implemented drug testing in its public schools, though it is permitted in school athletics, said Greg Knudsen, spokesman for the state Department of Education.
"There has to be reasonable cause to follow through on some type of drug testing. That's the practice at this point," Greg Knudsen said. "There are some serious questions pertaining to students' rights that need to be considered, that students have rights and may not have to submit to mandatory testing. If we create laws that would remove those rights, it has to be done very carefully."
There are exceptions in school settings, he added, especially when it affects students' health and safety. The question would be whether drug use in schools affect all students.
Micah Apo, a junior at Roosevelt High School, believes drugs are a problem at his school. But he doesn't think mandatory drug testing will solve anything.
"There is definitely a problem," Apo said. "But it doesn't affect me. I don't put myself in that situation."
An inside linebacker and running back for the school's varsity football team, Apo said he avoids drugs because he's "afraid to get busted."
"It's an invasion of privacy," Apo added. "People would feel offended if they get tested and didn't do drugs."
Classmate Kasey Reyes disagreed, saying drug testing may deter students from using drugs because they don't want to get caught.
"I think it's a good idea," Reyes said. "Drugs in schools nowadays is such a big factor ... I think it would help."
She would like to see treatment programs offered at the schools to help students with substance abuse problems.
"It's their personal life; it's nobody's business but theirs and their families'," Reyes said. "But if they kept (the students) anonymous, maybe it could help."
Drug use among Hawai'i students has declined from its peak in 1996, according to the state Department of Health's 2000 Hawaii Student Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Use Study, the most recent figures available.
Hawai'i's youth are at or below national averages in almost every category.
The study, which surveyed students in public and private schools, showed that 13.4 percent of students in grades 6 through 12 meet the state's criteria for needing alcohol or drug treatment, down from 16 percent in 1998.
Alcohol continues to top the substance abuse list with 22 percent of eighth-graders, 33 percent of sophomores and 43 percent of seniors saying they had consumed alcohol on a monthly basis. Those numbers are still lower than the national averages.
But alcohol, though a problem in Hawai'i, would probably not be one of the drugs tested in the proposed program.
"Things have been slowly coming down, especially in the lower grades," said Elaine Wilson, chief of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Division of the DOH.
Prevention and drug-awareness programs seemed to have helped, Wilson said, raising the issue of whether drug testing is more punishment than prevention.
"We need to have more prevention programs in our schools," said Karen Ginoza, president of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association. "What you want to do is make schools a place where students want to come, a place that is safe for them. And drug testing makes everybody feel we're all bad. What we really want to do is help our students."
Setting up an effective treatment program within the schools would be one way to sell legislators on the proposal, said Rep. Roy Takumi D-36th (Pearl City, Palisades), chairman of the House Education Committee.
"The purpose needs to be more treatment-oriented than incarceration-oriented," Takumi said. "I generally look at drug abuse as a health problem rather than a criminal problem."
Forcing students to take drug tests may hurt the relationship between students and school officials, said Michael Taleff, coordinator of the Center for Substance Abuse at the University of Hawai'i.
"It seems to me it may drive a wedge of mistrust between students and administrators," Taleff said. "There's got to be other options, other ways to get students' assistance and to decrease the alcohol and drug problem without trampling on constitutional rights."
Mandatory drug testing isn't cheap.
It could cost between $10 and $30 per test, with hair testing somewhat higher, according to the White House Drug Policy Office. On-site alcohol tests cost between $1 and $10.
Bunda said legislators will have to discuss the program's financing. He suggests that the state subsidize at least part of the cost, with the rest coming from parents.
The high cost of the tests worries state and school officials, who already are struggling with slashed budgets.
"Everything has a cost," Karen Knudsen said. "It cannot come out of our existing funds. Do we have to hire new people? Are we adding more burden to our administrators? That all needs to be factored in."
School officials in Tecumseh, Okla., didn't let money affect their decision to implement mandatory drug testing in its high school. The school system pays the $5.50 per test for the 100 students it screens every semester out of a student body of about 1,500.
"The program has been immensely successful, there's no question," said Terry O'Rorke, the Tecumseh school board president. "Whether it's Hawai'i, Oklahoma or Minnesota, let's face it, there's drugs there. We're taking every step we can. Our thing is not to criticize the student but to help them."
The school tests students involved in extracurricular activities, from sports to student government. The drug testing, first introduced in 1998, was upheld last year after the Supreme Court ruled that schools' interest in ridding their campuses of drugs outweighs an individual's right to privacy.
It approved drug testing for students who join competitive after-school activities or teams, but not random screening of all students.
"As a parent, I understand being concerned about civil rights," said Tecumseh's mayor, Greg Wilson. "But my personal feeling is drugs are probably an exception to that. Students ought to be tested because it's a growing problem in general, not just in this school district."
Bunda feels it's the parents' right to know if their child is abusing drugs.
"If my kid is on drugs, I'd like to know about it," Bunda said. "I don't think any parent wouldn't want to know that."
Reach Catherine E. Toth at 535-8103 or ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.
