FAQ’s: RANDOM DRUG TESTING

I assumed that everyone must have heard about the recommendation of the Chairman of the Drugs Dangerous Board (DDB), former Senator Tito Sotto to the President about the random drug testing. It has also been the response to the call of Pres. Gloria Arroyo’s combat against illegal drugs.

Subsequently, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) announced that they will implement the drug testing program targeting to include about 6 million students from 8,000 different high schools, colleges and universities nationwide. This has gain spurs on the controversy and the captured of the Alabang Boys recently and since its insinuation are among just a few.

Various groups had protested and called for the scrapping against this plan to subject teachers and students to random drug testing. Though I presume that everyone must have heard, but not really know what exactly is this random drug testing all about. My purpose of writing this article is to let everyone who would have read this to educate themselves about this drug testing that everybody is going crazy. I have searched in sites of Philippines Today, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and PubMed Central (PMC) on the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) some of the frequent questions about drug testing which soon to be implemented in some educational institutions nationwide.

WHAT IS DRUG TESTING? Random student drug testing is a powerful public health tool that discourages students from using dangerous, addictive drugs, and confidentially identifies those who may need help or drug treatment. Random testing also promotes a safer, healthier school learning environment.
Some schools, hospitals, or places of employment are already conducting drug tests. There are a number of ways this can be done, including: pre-employment testing, random testing, reasonable suspicion/cause testing, post-accident testing, return to duty testing, and follow-up testing. This usually involves collecting urine samples to test for drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, amphetamines, PCP, and opiates.
Currently, random drug testing can only be conducted among students who participate in competitive extracurricular activities. Reasonable suspicion/cause testing involves a school requiring a student to provide a urine specimen when there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the student may have used an illicit substance. Typically, this involves the direct observations made by school officials that a student has used or possesses illicit substances, exhibits physical symptoms of being under the influence, and has patterns of abnormal or erratic behavior.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING RANDOM DRUG TESTS? Schools that have adopted random student drug testing are hoping to decrease drug abuse among students via two routes. First, schools that conduct testing hope that random testing will serve as a deterrent, and give students a reason to resist peer pressure to take drugs. Secondly, drug testing can identify adolescents who have started using drugs so that interventions can occur early, or identify adolescents who already have drug problems, so they can be referred for treatment. Drug abuse not only interferes with a student’s ability to learn, but it can also disrupt the teaching environment, affecting other students as well.

IS STUDENT DRUG TESTING A STAND-ALONE SOLUTION, OR DOES IT NEEDS OTHER PROGRAMS TO PREVENT AND REDUCE DRUG USE? Drug testing should never be undertaken as a stand-alone response to a drug problem. If testing is done, it should be a component of broader prevention, intervention and treatment programs, with the common goal of reducing students’ drug use.

IF A STUDENT TESTS POSITIVE FOR DRUGS, SHOULD THAT STUDENT FACE DISCIPLINARY CONSEQUENCES?

The primary purpose of drug testing is not to punish students who use drugs but to prevent drug abuse and to help students already using become drug-free. The results of a positive drug test should be used to intervene with students who do not yet have drug problems, through counseling and follow-up testing. For students that are diagnosed with addiction, parents and a school administrator can refer them to effective drug treatment programs, to begin the recovery process.

WHAT TESTING METHODS ARE AVAILABLE?
There are several testing methods available that use urine, hair, oral fluids, and sweat (patch). These methods vary in cost, reliability, drugs detected, and detection period.

WHICH DRUGS CAN BE TESTED FOR?
Various testing methods normally test for a “panel” of drugs. Typically, a drug panel tests for marijuana, cocaine, opioids, amphetamines, and PCP.

WHAT ABOUT ALCOHOL?
Alcohol is a drug, and its use is a serious problem among young people. However, alcohol does not remain in the blood long enough for most tests to detect recent use. Breathalyzers and oral fluid tests can detect current use. Adolescents with substance abuse problems are often polydrug users (they use more than one drug) so identifying a problem with an illicit or prescription drug may also suggest an alcohol problem.

HOW ACCURATE ARE DRUG TESTS? IS THERE A POSSIBILITY A TEST COULD GIVE A FALSE POSITIVE?
Tests are very accurate but not 100 percent accurate. Usually samples are divided so if an initial test is positive a confirmation test can be conducted. Federal guidelines are in place to ensure accuracy and fairness in drug testing programs.

CAN STUDENTS “BEAT” THE TESTS?
Many drug-using students are aware of techniques that supposedly detoxify their systems or mask their drug use. Popular magazines and Internet sites give advice on how to dilute urine samples, and there are even companies that sell clean urine or products designed to distort test results. A number of techniques and products are focused on urine tests for marijuana, but masking products increasingly are becoming available for tests of hair, oral fluids, and multiple drugs.
Most of these products do not work, are very costly, are easily identified in the testing process and need to be on hand constantly, because of the very nature of random testing. Moreover, even if the specific drug is successfully masked, the product itself can be detected, in which case the student using it would become an obvious candidate for additional screening and attention. In fact, some testing programs label a test “positive” if a masking product is detected.

IS RANDOM DRUG TESTING OF STUDENTS LEGAL?
Drug testing not only of students, but also of employees, public officials, candidates for public office and criminal suspects, is required by Section 36 of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 ( R.A. 9165 ). As early as 2004, the legality of this particular provision of law had already been questioned before the Supreme Court ( SC ) and the decision in all said cases being promulgated only on November 3, 2008.

There is no doubt that for governors, teachers and parents drug testing seems an attractive solution both to prevent and deal with illicit drug use among their pupils. With adults, an independent inquiry into drug testing at work cautioned against introducing random drug testing in the workplace, concluding that it was inappropriate to drug test as a means of policing private behavior of employees or improving productivity, except perhaps in safety-critical industries. I may say that if drug testing is not appropriate for adult employees then it should also be unacceptable to test school children.

In a report release by GMA News, Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) chairman Vicente Sotto III had expressed disappointment over the Commission on Human Rights’ opinion that the planned random drug testing could violate an individual’s rights. The measure’s significance lies in the fact that it not only involves the “prevention” of drug dependence, but also the government’s “intervention” in ensuring that the students would be subjected under counseling to cure them of their addiction. Mr. Sotto assured transparency in the conduct of the testing, adding that various sectors including the Supreme Court had approved of the measure.

The lack of trust implicit on testing must not be underestimated. By subjecting a young person to testing, even with the student’s and parental consent, implies a loss of trust. The process of testing may be long and involved with initial screening tests and then confirmatory tests if the result is positive. This process may be harmful for the child, leading him or her to be labeled as a user. If drug testing is introduced it must therefore be supported by treatment and a supportive environment.