Why Americans should oppose mandatory
high school "drug" tests for cigarettes
WASHINGTON, DC -- A decision by an Alabama high school to start
doing "drug" tests on student athletes to detect cigarette smoking -- a
policy other schools around the USA are expected to emulate soon --
shows that mandatory drug testing has gotten out of hand, the
Libertarian Party says.
"Even if you think teenagers and cigarettes don't mix,
subjecting students to mandatory blood tests to discourage smoking is a
drastic overreaction to the problem," said the party's national
director, Steve Dasbach.
"And given the poor performance of so many students, you can
make the case that public schools should be scheduling more tests in
math, English, and history -- and fewer tests for cigarette smoking."
This semester, Hoover High School in Hoover, Alabama announced
it would begin a program of mandatory, random blood tests of the 1,500
students in grades 7 to 12 who participate in school athletic programs.
Students can be tested for 11 illegal drugs and alcohol -- and also for
nicotine from cigarettes and chewing tobacco.
Arguing that nicotine is a "mind-altering" substance, school
officials said athletes who test positive will be subject to parental
notification, mandatory tobacco education classes, and then suspension
from athletic events.
Anti-tobacco advocates predicted the program would quickly
spread to other government schools around the country.
Before it does, Americans should consider whether they really
want to escalate the federal government's unsuccessful "War on Teenage
Smoking" in this fashion, said Dasbach.
"So far, the only result of Washington, DC's decade-long
crusade against teenage smoking has been more teenage smoking," he
noted. "Between 1991 and 1997, smoking rates among high school students
increased by almost one-third, from 27.5% to 36.4%.
"Teenage smoking rates have dipped slightly in the last year,
but you can make the case that the more politicians huff and puff about
the evils of smoking, the more they tempt rebellious teenagers to take
up the habit. Why should this program be different?"
Mandatory nicotine testing also blurs the distinction between
the dangers posed to teenagers by cigarettes versus the dangers from
drugs and alcohol, said Dasbach.
"While no one argues that in a perfect world, teenagers
wouldn't smoke, the idea that students should be drug-tested for a bad
habit that might cause illness or premature death in 50 years is
absurd," he said.
"More importantly, nicotine testing also deflects parents'
attention away from the more immediate dangers posed to teenagers by
alcohol and many illegal drugs. Surely, no sensible person thinks that
teenagers who smoke and drive are as much at risk as teenagers who
drink and drive."
Finally, mandatory blood tests for teenagers send a chilling
message to young people that they can be tested "like laboratory
animals" any time the government wants, said Dasbach.
"It would be nice if government schools taught students about
the Fourth Amendment -- which guarantees the right to be free from
unreasonable, warrantless searches -- instead of subjecting students to
unreasonable, warrantless blood testing," he said. "After all, a
government powerful enough to mandate blood tests for nicotine poses a
greater danger to the long-term well-being of American teenagers than
puffing on a cigarette ever will." |
