The following letters are in response to a commentary posted on October 19.

Dear Editor:

I've read both sides regarding random, non punitive drug testing in the schools through your newsletter. I believe drug testing could be a valuable tool for the youth, their families and the schools. It would be great to have financial support from our National Administration. However, each community should have the freedom to tailor a drug testing program that would work best for them.

It is my experience that random, voluntary drug testing was very successful at our local high school. In our case it was a voluntary program and we used incentives and targeted the sports teams to initiate the program. We secured a small grant from a local Foundation to initiate the program.

We held orientations for teens and their families, sending them home with drug testing contracts. The contracts were read and agreed upon by both the parents and the teen, signed, then sent back to school which enrolled them into the drug testing program. 

The names were entered in a box and randomly drawn each Sunday evening. A call was placed to the students and they showed up Monday, 7:00 am to the local hospital for the test. The results were received and, if positive, a local physician, who was part of the program, gave the parents and student a call. No one else knew the results and the families were able to work with the physician privately if the results were positive. 

This was about 10 years ago and I know there are better methods of providing a drug testing program through the schools. However, when I left my position of running drug free programs on all of the campuses, the high school had 80% of their students enrolled in that voluntary drug testing program.  The bottom line was that kids used the program, whether they were enrolled or not, as their excuse for not drinking or doing other drugs. The parents loved it and it gave them a great opportunity to keep an open communication with their teens regarding drug use.

I realize drug testing, of course, is just one piece of the equation. But I believe in drug testing and believe financial support from our National Administration would help encourage schools to consider such programs. If there are programs that have been researched and proven to work, these might go as recommendations to schools. Data should be gathered periodically to see if such programs are making a difference in the participating schools.

Cindy Stevens
Director of Community Services
People Helping People
P.O. Box 1478
Solvang, CA  93464

Dear Editor:

I am not opposed to drug testing if properly utilized, but Roger Morgan's advocacy of a "shotgun" approach is outdated, unsupported by research or evidence, and likely to be counterproductive.

I (and many others) agree that we need much more prevention - hopefully not at the expense of resources for treatment - but there is no reason to believe that mandating universal testing will help. More likely, it would waste our resources with little or no positive result.

Steve Heilig, MPH
San Francisco Medical Society
San Francisco, CA