Drug Testing Essay

Drug testing in middle schools and high schools nationwide is a controversial topic in today’s society. While some believe drug testing athletes will help to end student drug use, the results from studies conducted in select schools has proven the initiative to not be worth it. Student athletes in high schools and middle schools should not be drug tested because it is an unjustified invasion of privacy, it is a costly decision that targets the minority within drug users, and there may be less athletic participation which comes with its own adverse consequences. Drug testing student athletes is an unwarranted invasion of student privacy. The fourth amendment of the constitution clearly states “The right of the people to be secure in their persons… shall not be violated”. If high schools do not get the students’ consent before drug testing, they will need a warrant to do so as it would be otherwise unconstitutional. When a law is made that is deemed unconstitutional, it is immediately nullified and sometimes rewritten to be in compliance with the constitution. The states need to follow the same path and realize that there are ways to drug test athletes that are in said compliance, such as only conducting drug tests when there is probable cause or when there is evidence that the student athlete in question has been using drugs. Physicians have argued that there is little evidence student athletes are more prone to drug use than their non-athlete peers, “Drug use among college athletes is significantly lower than use in the general college population for a whole host of drugs, including alcohol—even in the absence of drug testing” (McKeag 1985, Anderson 1991). The data recorded from tests like those of McKeag and Anderson all come to the conclusion that student athletes are a minority within drug users, and that non-athletic students are more prone to drug use. If true, then the decision to spend thousands of dollars on athlete drug testing alone would be unreasonable and unjust. It is also important to bring up that drug tests alone will not be enough to stop drug use. Instead of spending money testing a minority of drug users, it would be more appropriate to use the money in ways that would spread awareness of the effects of drugs to all

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