BY DANIELLA ASPURU
Usually, people in the workforce and professional athletes are subjected to random drug tests. However, the idea of drug testing moving down to high school is absolutely ridiculous. The public school system should not be permitted to administer drug tests on high school athletes because this would violate the 4th amendment, funds are insufficient, and these tests can prove to be inaccurate and unfair.
The 4th amendment gives people the right to be secure in their homes. Unreasonable searches and seizures are against the law without having a warrant as well as probable cause to issue the warrant. With that being said it’s unreasonable to randomly drug test students, let alone high school athletes, without probable cause for doing so. Unless there is definite proof that a high school athlete is engaging in illegal activities, there is absolutely no reason to violate their human rights.
As of right now, the school board can barely afford textbooks and paper but somehow they want to implement drug tests. Learning supplies and technology are two crucial things that students need, but unfortunately some schools are failing to supply students with these essentials. Drug testing would also be another costly program that would require unnecessary funding. During the past 2 school years, the IHSA (Illinois High School Association) performed close to 1,800 drug tests near the start of the 2010- 2011 school year. Only 4 students tested positive for drugs, 2 of which were because of medication. The other two were the first punishable offenses in the programs history. Each of these tests cost approximately $35. Instead of drug testing its students, the IHSA could’ve spent $63,000 on new textbooks and supplies. These supplies would benefit everyone; whereas, the drug testing only affects a few.
With that in mind, not every test is 100% fool proof or accurate. In many instances, certain foods can affect the outcome of the test. For example, poppy seeds, often eaten on bagels for breakfast; shows up on a drug test up to 48 hours after intake. Heroin, morphine and Oxycodone are all opiates and opiates are all derived from poppies. In addition, some kids are prescribed certain medications that can result in a false positive, an example would be the ADHD medicine called Adderall. Adderall is most likely to show up on a drug test as an amphetamine. A student who received a false positive due to his Adderall medication would be subject to humiliation and trouble.
Most of the student body doesn’t consist of athletes. Therefore if drug use is concerning, why single out athletes? If some of these athletes test positive, chances are other students will also test positive. Everyone encounters peer pressure and singling out high school athletes wouldn’t solve anything. All students face the same problems and it just wouldn’t be right to only call out the athletes for these mistakes.
Teens will and continue to do things they will regret later on in life. It’s a part of growing up and no student, particularity a high school athlete, should be penalized with this on their student transcript. These transcripts are seen by colleges and could even potentially affect a high school athlete from obtaining an athletic scholarship. Drug testing high school athletes should not be an option.
