Deputy U.S. drug czar Mary Ann Solberg traveled to San Diego to encourage schools to start randomly drug testing their students, but was met by opponents who called testing ineffective or worse, the North County Times reported Feb. 23.

Solberg called youth drug use a "national public-health problem" and said drug testing can be an effective deterrent; she added that testing should be a "community decision," not one made by a school board or superintendent.

"This can never appear on a permanent record," Solberg said of test results, which she said should be used to identify problems and get students help. "This is not a criminal-justice issue." 

"It's something I'm interested in implementing," said Chris Greene, the athletic director at Carlsbad High School. "I think it's positive for the kids." 

But Kevin Keenan, executive director of the local chapter of the ACLU, called the drug-testing conference sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy "a very one-sided dog-and-pony show," saying that drug testing violates privacy rights and diverts money from proven prevention strategies.

Jennifer Kern of the Drug Policy Alliance said it is too easy for drug-testing results to become public knowledge. "Students are pulled out of class (for testing), then suddenly they're not on the basketball team," she said.

ONDCP plans to hold four such regional conferences this year, and is dangling federal funding for schools interested in random drug testing.