Little to show for school drug tests

It’s not that anyone should expect a lot of drug activity in the middle and high schools, but with about 100 random tests conducted in a year, only one positive result over four years seems a little optimistic. We like to think and are inclined to believe that drug use among students is lower in Commerce than at many other schools — but just one positive test? You know what they say: if it seems too good to be true, it’s too good to be true.

It may be time for officials to look more closely at the capabilities of the testing method being used. If a student smokes marijuana Thursday, and is tested at lunch Friday and gets a negative response when the swabs are analyzed, the tests are of little value to the school system and to parents.

The point of the tests is to increase awareness, not to punish offenders. The process calls for parental involvement and student counseling — not punishment or discipline — when drug use is indicated. But if the tests cannot adequately indicate drug use, they serve no purpose and may, in fact, give parents and administrators a very false sense of security.

Maybe Commerce kids just don’t use illegal drugs. Maybe the current test is ineffective. Either way, just one positive test for drugs in four years indicates that there’s little use in continuing the current drug testing procedure.