School Extends Testing to Alcohol, Tobacco September 20, 2000
News Summary
A controversial new drug-testing policy going into effect in Hoover, Ala., requires student athletes to be tested for tobacco and alcohol as well as illicit drugs, the Washington Post reported Sept. 18.The new policy takes student drug testing beyond the traditional focus of illicit drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, barbiturates, or heroin. "Tobacco is the gateway drug that leads to all the other problems," said Ron Swann, athletic director for the 10,000-student school district. "This policy is to give student athletes a deterrent so that when they are tempted at a party, they have an excuse not to smoke."
Under the policy, 250 athletes who play on the district's 22 sports teams in grades 7 through 12 will be randomly tested throughout the school year. Students testing positive the first time will be suspended from 25 percent of games; a second offense comes with a semester suspension; and a third positive test yields a full-year suspension.
Arthur Spitzer, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer in Washington, D.C., called the policy the latest attempt by schools to invade students' privacy. "What kids do away from school is not a school's business," he stated.
Spitzer said that the policy is particularly troubling because the argument that smoking cigarettes would endanger players' safety was inaccurate. "Although it's a dirty habit, millions smoke tobacco, and professional athletes have smoked and chewed tobacco for generations, and so it seems ridiculous to say if a teen smokes a cigarette, he is a danger to himself or others," Spitzer said.
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