Parents: Fact Sheet
Trends and Attitudes Toward Student Drug Testing and Drug Use
"There is one method that stands out as the most effective prevention method today, and that is student drug testing. [It is] the most effective demand-reduction tool, I believe, that this country has ever known."
Former New Orleans District Attorney Harry Connick
What Studies and Surveys Have Reported About Student Drug Testing:
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67% of teens and 60% of parents say drug tests are effective in keeping teens from using illegal drugs.1
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94 % of Indiana high schools principals in a 2003 survey believed the random drugtesting policy to be effective in discouraging drug and alcohol use by students.2
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After implementing a student drug testing program, Hunterdon Central Regional High School saw a reduction in cocaine use by seniors from 13 to 4% after 2 years.3
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Schools in Autauga County, Alabama experienced decreases in marijuana use from 19 to 12% after implementation of student drug testing programs. |
What Studies Have Shown About Drug Use Among Teens:
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More than five million of those aged 12 to 17-years (20 percent) can buy marijuana in an hour or less. Another five million (19 percent) can buy marijuana within a day.1
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28.7% of high-school students had been offered, sold, or given an illegal drug on school property during the 12 months preceding the survey.2
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The marijuana used in the 1960's was often quite low in THC content (chemical found in marijuana plants), ranging from .25 to 1 percent. Presently, marijuana (a variety called Sinsemilla) has concentrations more than 20 times that of marijuana used in 1960. The effect of this drug is even more severe on developing adolescents in junior and senior high school.
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Use of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other illicit drugs by students in high school increased over 2002 with the increases being significantly significant.4 |
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1 National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. 2003 CASA National Survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse VIII: Teens and Parents. 2003. http://www.casacolumbia.org/pdshopprov/files/2003_Teen_Survey_8_19_03.pdf.
2 "Student Drug-Testing Programs: An Overview and Resource Guide." 2004. Student Drug-Testing Coalition. 29 Sept 2004 http://www.studentdrugtesting.org.
3 DuPont, Robert, Teresa Campbell, and Jacqueline Mazza. US Dept. of Education Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, Safe and Drug-Free Schools Program. Report of a Preliminary Study: Elements of a Successful School-Based Student Drug Testing Program. Rockville, MD: Institute for Behavior and Health, Inc., 2002.
4 PRIDE Surveys, Chapter 2, National Summary Statistics. 29 Sept 2004. http://www.pridesurveys.com
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