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When Chris Steffner, principal of Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, New Jersey, was asked at a March 19th meeting atManasquan High Schoolif the intiative she supports to implement randomdrug testing in schools across America included the random drug testing of everyone in the school building, she fell back to the Major League Baseballdefense of its actions, or inactions,concerning drug useand testing prior to2005."TheNJEA[teachers union] will never agree to it."Ms. Steffner skillfullymakes a casefor random student drug testing inpublic schools, but just as ineptly ignores the social context of failed drugpolicies. In the presentation at Manasquan High School, Ms. Steffnerreferred to her 30 plus years of experience in education. She stated thatthrough that entire time there have been drug problems in public andprivate education in the United States. She went on to say that once one travels down the path of drugabuse there is little chance of self-initiated recovery.I don't know of any sources that dispute the presence of a drug problem in schools in the US over thepast 30 years (and longer), but the notion that anyone touched by the drug-culture and thereby inoculatedagainst self-control in using those drugs is far less established.Drug treatment facilities based inNew York Stateand inConnecticut claim that the path from drugs is difficult, if not impossible, to follow by oneself."You have probably heard this:" I will do it by myself" "I am not addicted".Unfortunately, if detoxification would be an easy step. Drug and alcohol would not be oneof the biggest problem in our society. When a person addicted makes an attempt atdetoxification and to stop drug use without the help of a professional , the results do notlast long. Scientific research into the long term effects drugs and alcohol addiction hasproven that changes in the way the brain functions are staying long after the addict hasstopped consuming drugs. Realizing that an addicted person who wishes to recover fromtheir drug problem needs more than just strong will power is the key to a successfulrecovery. Fighting not only cravings for their drug they are using, environment triggers,etc.It is no wonder that quitting drugs without professional help is a really hard battle."

--connecticut-drug-rehab.com

If, however, we assume that the arguments about inevitable long term drug abuse for anyone using drugsat any time in their life are true, then the problem of drug use by students in our schools become thesystemic problem of drug abuse for anyone in society. There is no exemption for status or position. Any

member of a board of education, administration, cafeteria, teaching or custodial staff may have the sametypes of problems as the students.The obvious difference between the professional staff of a school and the student body in a K -12 schoolenvironment is the age of the two groups. Professional staff are presumed to be adults who are able tomake adult choices in life; the students are, often, teenagers who can make puzzling and/or poor choicesabout almost anything of which a parent can think. If the drug problem is indeed entrenched andsystemic, every member of the educational institution must participate in any site-wide initiative.Choosing to randomly test students, alone, leaves a leadership vacuum that excludes the professionalstaff and may lead to resentment of the entire program. The students may believe that while their allegeddrug use is under daily scrutiny, any drug use by school staff is not considered at all. One way toovercome objections by professional staff organizations to organized testing is to make the testingcompletely voluntary. Participants in the program could be publicly thanked for their commitment andleadership efforts and the results of their random tests would remain as private as any student's testregardless of the result. But even that vision of universal testing falls short of the goal of random drugtesting.While it is true that the student random drug testing programs are very careful about avoiding extensivepunitive measures for students who test positive, there are consequences in their family relationships.There are few statistical comparisons between the subjective nature of a strong family relationship andthe objective nature of testing and empirical evidence.According to aWhite House drug policy study, social leadership, and strong family relationships --notdrug testing-- have changed the drug abuse landscape:"Compared to a generation ago, most of today's teens are thriving. Drug, alcohol, tobacco,and teen pregnancy rates are all down. But recent surveys show that among the Nation's12-17-year-olds, each day 3,430 try marijuana for the first time; 7,500 try alcohol;3,900try cigarettes; and one in five teenage girls has at least one birth by age 20. In a typicalhigh school class in America today, the number of students engaging in risky behaviors isstaggering: seven out of 30 kids are using drugs; 13 drink alcohol; six smoke cigarettes;and 10 are sexually active. Indeed, new data also shows that more than four in 10adolescents have been offered drugs and about one in four have been offered drugs atschool."

-- whitehousedrugpolicy.gov

Even regional groups have objections to the nature and efficacy of proposed student random drugtesting. At a January, 2008 meeting of theDrug Policy Allianceof New Jersey and theNorthern Valley Regional School District, these objections were recorded:"In addition to presenting to around 100 parents and students in Northern Valley andproviding them with materials such as the bookletMaking Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators Are Saying No,