Kids, Drug Testing and Parents by j. wallace

I'm a mom before anything else. And my children are young enough, 7-14, that I am still what you would call fiercely protective. I don't let anyone mess with my kids and I can't believe that so many parents do.

The idea of drug testing children seems to be shocking a lot of people. I don't

understand�why they are so surprised. Children have been turned in, turned over,

and turned away by their parents for their illicit drug use for decades.

�Checking their pee seems mild in comparison.

�

Doesn't anyone recognize this effort for what it is, a plan "b" to the failed plan "a"

of education?� �D.A.R.E� didn't work.��One D.A.R.E. graduate from a wonderful

Christian family, �a former honor student and homecoming queen, now a wife

and��mother, �told me that the reason D.A.R.E didn't work was because it wasn't

truthful.�� She�shared that�when she smoked marijuana, she, and many of her

peers continued to smoke because the dangers that they were warned about simply didn't

exist.�� As a result,� it bolstered the courage of many to experiment with drugs

such as mushrooms, acid��and cocaine.�� With testimonies such as this, and

reports��that drug use among adolescents is still holding, and youth treatment

admissions are up due to criminal justice referrals, not much more proof is

needed to prove that the program was almost completely ineffective, if not totally so.

While their hope is that drug testing will deter��drug use, at best it will deter

experimentation for a few years, at worst it will cause��the drop out rates to go up.

In the middle, the number of students participating in�extracurricular activities will

decrease. It will definitely cause division and alienation in families somewhere and

�it will definitely affect the children the most and the worst.

�

I don't have a lot of statistics, articles or studies in my head, but I do
know a lot of kids.� And I happen to care about all of them.� I can't say
the same for the member of the U.S. Supreme Court who referred to our young
people who use drugs,� maybe your kids,� as "druggies".�� This derogatory
comment� certainly does not inspire confidence that there is an overwhelming
concern for the children that they are allegedly trying to help.

I am glad I homeschool my children. I wouldn't take it well if someone
insisted on them taking a drug test to play the clarinet or run a football.
But then again, I wouldn't turn in, turn over or turn away my children for
anything.�� How about you?