For Immediate Release:Â May 6, 2008
For More Info: Contact: Jennifer Kern (415) 373-7694 or Jasmine Tyler (202) 294-8292
Largest Study, Leading Health Groups Call Random, Suspicionless Drug Testing Harmful and Ineffective
Concerned Citizens to Provide Educators with Missing Information; Experts Available for Interviews
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is conducting a series of regional summits designed to convince local educators to start drug testing students -- randomly and without cause. This policy is unsupported by the available science and opposed by leading experts in adolescent health. The Bush Administration is hosting a summit on Wednesday, May 7 at the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the 5th floor conference room of 750 17th Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C. from 1:00 p.m.â5:00 p.m.
The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) will provide attendees with copies of DPAâs booklet Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators Are Saying No, which provides resources for evidence-based alternatives and summarizes research showing that such testing is ineffective.
Studies have found that suspicionless drug testing is ineffective in deterring student drug use. The first large-scale national study on student drug testing, which was published by researchers at the University of Michigan in 2003, found no difference in rates of student drug use between schools that have drug testing programs and those that do not. A two-year randomized experimental trial published last November in the Journal of Adolescent Health concluded random drug testing targeting student athletes did not reliably reduce past month drug use and, in fact, produced attitudinal changes among students that indicate new risk factors for future substance use.Â
"Drug testing is humiliating, costly and ineffective, but itâs an easy anti-drug sound bite for the White House," said Jennifer Kern, youth policy manager with the Drug Policy Alliance. "The people and educators across the country who make serious decisions about young peopleâs safety wonât find the information they need at these propaganda-filled summits. They need the actual research, not slogans and junk science."
The American Academy of Pediatrics, National Education Association, the Association of Addiction Professionals and the National Association of Social Workers object to testing. They believe random testing programs erect counter-productive obstacles to student participation in extracurricular activities, marginalize at-risk students and make open communication more difficult.
âDrug testing breaks down relationships of trust,â said Jasmine Tyler, deputy director of national affairs with the Drug Policy Alliance. âAll credible research on substance abuse prevention points to eliminating, rather than creating, sources of alienation and conflict between young people, their parents and schools.â
A December 2007 policy statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Substance Abuse and Council of School Health reaffirmed their opposition to student drug testing, holding: âPhysicians should not support drug testing in schools ⦠[because] it has not yet been established that drug testing does not cause harm.
Making Sense of Student Drug Testing: Why Educators are Saying No published by the Drug Policy Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union can be found online at www.safety1st.org. An excerpt from the booklet is included below:
Comprehensive, rigorous and respected research shows there are many reasons why random student drug testing is not good policy:
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 6, 2008Â
 Â
CONTACT: Bruce Mirken, MPP director of communications, 415-668-6403 or 202-215-4205
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A little-known federal government program that supplies medical marijuana to a handful of patients will mark its 30th anniversary on May 10.
   The federal medical marijuana program -- referred to as a Compassionate Investigational New Drug (IND) program -- resulted from a lawsuit filed by glaucoma patient Robert Randall, who successfully showed that his use of marijuana was a medical necessity.
   The program slowly grew for over a dozen years. In the wake of a flood of new applications from patients battling AIDS -- who found that marijuana boosted their appetites and relieved the nausea often caused by anti-HIV drugs -- the George H.W. Bush administration closed it to new applicants in March 1992, but continued supplying federal marijuana to those already receiving it. Four of those patients survive today.
   "Most Americans would be shocked to know that the federal government supplies medical marijuana to patients while claiming that marijuana is a harmful drug with no medical value," said Rob Kampia, executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C. "If federal officials believe their own statements, they're knowingly poisoning four innocent people, but in fact they know better. The four remaining patients in the federal program have benefited from their medical marijuana use, groups like the American College of Physicians and the American Public Health Association have said that marijuana is a safe and effective medicine and, as a result, we must change the federal laws that prohibit medical marijuana."
   Officially, the Compassionate IND is a research program. Participants were required to sign a consent document calling the program a "study." Yet the federal government has never studied the patients in the "study." In fact, the only study ever published of these patients was privately financed and conducted.
   "May 10 marks the 30th anniversary of federal hypocrisy and dishonesty about medical marijuana," Kampia said. "When future historians see how much effort our government made to avoid learning that marijuana is a safe and effective medicine, they'll shake their heads in disbelief."
   With more than 23,000 members and 180,000 e-mail subscribers nationwide, the Marijuana Policy Project is the largest marijuana policy reform organization in the United States. MPP believes that the best way to minimize the harm associated with marijuana is to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to alcohol. For more information, please visit http://MarijuanaPolicy.org.
ASAâs ongoing campaign to hold the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) accountable for its continued efforts to undermine state medical marijuana laws is working. We are pleased to announce that US House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) has sent a letter to DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart challenging the DEA's actions.
As a follow-up to a public statement he made in December, Chairman Conyersâ letter questions DEA directly about its heightened raid activity across California and its intimidation of property owners owners with threats of prosecution and asset forfeiture because they rent to medical cannabis dispensaries. Chairman Conyers is the highest ranking elected official to question the DEAâs tactics since medical cannabis raids in California escalated dramatically in 2007. This letter is an important and necessary step towards Congressional hearings by the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the actions of the DEA.
Over the past several months, ASA and advocates all over the country have lobbied Chairman Conyers to convene hearings. Dozens of legal, tax-paying dispensaries have been shut down or evicted by their landlords, and many more face the same fate if Congress does not intervene. ASA Director of Government Affairs Caren Woodson has been lobbying the offices of Chairman Conyers and Subcommittee Chairman Scott about this issue for months, and her persistence is paying off!
Carenâs work with the House Judiciary Committee was bolstered by a statewide effort to get Californiaâs elected officials to call for an end to the harmful tactics of the DEA. ASA and its allies were successful in garnering strong letters of support from several elected officials, urging Chairman Conyers to hold hearings. Among those who spoke up were Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby, Los Angeles City Councilmember Dennis Zine, and the mayors of Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and West Hollywood.
I urge you to make a special commitment to support the kind of persistent, strategic, and effective organizing that ASA demonstrated in moving Chairman Conyers forward on this issue by making a monthly pledge of support or a one time contribution to ASA.
Please visit www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/Donate and make a contribution today!
P.S. Please visit www.AmericansForSafeAccess.org/ConyersLetter to read the letter from Chairman Conyers.
[Courtesy of Marijuana Policy Project]Â
Dear friends:
If you've ever wanted to go to the Playboy Mansion, here's what could be a once-in-a-lifetime chance.
MPP will be holding a star-studded party at the Playboy Mansion in L.A. on June 12 â and we're offering you the chance to buy tickets at a discounted rate of $850. That rate is only good through May 12 â then tickets go up to $1,000 apiece ... so buy now to lock in the lower rate.
The party will be hosted by reality TV superstar and model Adrianne Curry. Party-goers will get to mingle with celebrities, Playboy Playmates, and marijuana policy reformers while exploring the Playboy Mansion's grotto, grounds, and exotic zoo. Only a lucky few have seen the inside of the grotto, which includes three hot tubs and love seats built into the stone walls. You'll also be able to bid on auction items, including vintage photographs of James Dean, Frank Sinatra, and Jimmy Hendrix.
Be a part of MPP's biggest charity event and help us raise much-needed funds for our work. Please reserve your tickets today.
Sincerely,
Rob Kampia
Executive Director
Marijuana Policy Project
Washington, D.C.
P.S. As I've mentioned in previous alerts, a major philanthropist has committed to match the first $3.0 million that MPP can raise from the rest of the planet in 2008. This means that your donation today will be doubled.