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Press Release: White House Pushes Harmful and Ineffective Student Drug Testing Agenda at DC Summit

For Immediate Release: May 6, 2008

For More Info: Contact: Jennifer Kern (415) 373-7694 or Jasmine Tyler (202) 294-8292

 
White House Pushes Controversial Student Drug Testing Agenda at D.C. Summit on May 7

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.–5:00 p.m.

The Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) will provide attendees with copies of DPA’s 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. 

"Drug testing is humiliating, costly and ineffective, but it’s 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 people’s safety won’t 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.

“Drug testing breaks down relationships of trust,” said Jasmine Tyler, deputy director of national affairs with the Drug Policy Alliance. “All credible research on substance abuse prevention points to eliminating, rather than creating, sources of alienation and conflict between young people, their parents and schools.”

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:  “Physicians 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:

  • Drug testing is not effective in deterring drug use among young people;
  • Drug testing is expensive, taking away scarce dollars from other, more effective programs that keep young people out of trouble with drugs;
  • Drug testing can be legally risky, exposing schools to potentially costly litigation;
  • Drug testing may drive students away from extracurricular activities, which are a proven means of helping students stay out of trouble with drugs;
  • Drug testing can undermine trust between students and teachers, and between parents and children;
  • Drug testing can result in false positives, leading to the punishment of innocent students;
  • Drug testing does not effectively identify students who have serious problems with drugs; and
  • Drug testing may lead to unintended consequences, such as students using drugs (like alcohol) that are more dangerous but less detectable by a drug test.

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Karl Rove and John Walters are Stealing Your Cash

For years President Bush has wasted taxpayer money on drug war programs that even his own analysts have concluded are ineffective. Now we know why. A recent Congressional investigation found that the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) used taxpayer money to boost support for Republican candidates in 2006. U.S. Drug Czar John Walters and his deputies traveled to almost 20 events with vulnerable Republican members of Congress in the months prior to the election. The taxpayer-financed trips were orchestrated by President Bush's political advisors and often combined with the announcement of federal grants or actions that made the Republican candidates look good in their districts. Karl Rove commended ONDCP officials for "going above and beyond the call of duty" in making "surrogate appearances" in "the god awful places we sent them." Those "god awful places" included cities like South Bend, Indiana, my hometown. At the same time Walters was spending taxpayer money campaigning on behalf of vulnerable Republicans, President Bush was increasing funding for Walters' favorite programs, the anti-marijuana ad campaign and the student drug testing program. This kind of I'll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch-mine arrangement is outrageous, even by Washington standards! Email Congress: http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=31997&MS=ONDCP-071807-aa And this corruption is just the tip of the iceberg. ONDCP has a long history of using taxpayer money to oppose drug policy reform. For instance, ONDCP bureaucrats traveled to New Mexico at least four times in 12 months -- at your expense -- to lobby state legislators to oppose the Drug Policy Alliance's medical marijuana legislation. Fortunately, the legislature passed our bill anyway and seriously ill people in New Mexico will finally have access to legal medical marijuana. We truly are in a David vs. Goliath fight here. ONDCP's annual budget is 67 times greater than ours; and while we rely upon the voluntary donations of supporters like you, the drug war extremists can dig into the taxpayers' purse any time they want. There are two things you can do to help level the playing field: 1) Email Congress (http://actioncenter.drugpolicy.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=31997&MS=ONDCP-071807-aa) and urge your representatives to pass legislation prohibiting ONDCP from using taxpayer money to lobby or influence elections. 2) Donate (https://secure3.ctsg.com/dpa/donation/index.asp?Item=8&MS=ONDCP-071807-aa) so we can rein in ONDCP and fight the politicians and special interests that benefit from the war on drugs. DPA has a strong track record on this issue. In 2003 we beat back an attempt in Congress by Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) to allow the White House to use taxpayer money to run attack ads against pro-drug policy reform candidates and ballot measures. Our campaign garnered national media attention and helped make Rep. Souder a laughingstock in Congress. Three years later we turned the tables on Souder and passed a provision prohibiting ONDCP from ever using the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign to oppose pro-reform candidates or ballot measures. Now we have an opportunity to really go after the Drug Czar. With your support we can push for hearings on this latest drug war scandal, work to ensure that ONDCP staff are punished for any laws they broke, and close the campaign finance loophole that allows ONDCP to spend taxpayer money lobbying against drug policy reform. Please take a minute today to email Congress. And if you can, please donate to this important campaign. Thank you, Bill Piper Director of National Affairs Drug Policy Alliance

DPA Press Release: Drug Czar Campaigned for GOP While Bush Increased Budget for Failed Programs

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 17, 2007 CONTACT: Tony Newman (646) 335-5384 or Bill Piper (202) 669-6430 House Government Reform Chairman Finds Evidence White House Used Taxpayer Money to Boost Votes for Republicans in November 2006 U.S. Drug Czar Campaigned on Behalf of Vulnerable Republicans, While Bush Increased Funding for the Agency’s Controversial Anti-Marijuana Ad Campaign and Ineffective Student Drug Testing Program Leading Drug Policy Organization Calls for Prohibition on Using Taxpayer Money to Influence Voters The Chair of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has found evidence that the nation’s drug czar and his deputies traveled to almost two dozen events with vulnerable Republican members of Congress in the months prior to the 2006 elections. The taxpayer-financed trips were orchestrated by President George W. Bush’s political advisors and often combined with the announcement of federal grants or actions that benefited the districts of the Republican members. A November 20, 2006 memo from Sara Taylor, the former White House Director of Political Affairs, summarizes the travel Drug Czar John Walters took at her request. Of the 26 events, all were with Republicans in close races. An agency e-mail sent the following day describes how Karl Rove commended his agency (and three cabinet departments – Commerce, Transportation, and Agriculture) for “going above and beyond the call of duty” in making “surrogate appearances” at locations the e-mail described as “the god awful places we sent them.” That e-mail, as well as e-mails that followed, show that ONDCP officials were proud of the commendation they received from Mr. Rove and the political travel they took using taxpayer dollars. According to ONDCP’s liaison to the White House, Douglas Simon, “…our hard work…in preparing the Director and Deputies for their trips and events” allowed them to travel “thousands of miles to attend numerous events all across the country.” The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is expected to have hearings on the matter later this month. “This is shocking evidence that the Drug Czar, John Walters, and President Bush were scratching each other’s backs,” said Bill Piper, director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, the nation’s leading organization working for alternatives to the war on drugs. “Walters used taxpayer money to campaign for Republicans, while President Bush ignored the agency’s failures and increased funding for programs his own analysts determined were ineffective.” Numerous government-funded studies found that the government’s anti-marijuana ad campaign and student drug testing program are ineffective, yet the Bush Administration continues to request funding increases for those programs. The recently released memos and e-mails are only the latest evidence that the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) uses taxpayer money to influence voters. During a 2000 federal lawsuit evidence surfaced showing that ONDCP created its billion dollar anti-marijuana TV ad campaign to influence voters to reject state medical marijuana ballot measures. The drug czar and his staff are also routinely accused of using taxpayer money to travel to states in order to convince voters and legislators to reject drug policy reform. During the 2002 election, for instance, ONDCP’s campaigning on a Nevada ballot initiative was so intense that the state’s Attorney General complained in a letter to the Nevada Secretary of State that, “it is unfortunate that a representative of the federal government substantially intervened in a matter that was clearly a State of Nevada issue. The excessive federal intervention that was exhibited in this instance is particularly disturbing because it sought to influence the outcome of a Nevada election.” “How long will the drug czar use taxpayer money to influence voters before Congress takes action,” asked Piper.

Drug Policy Alliance (DPA) Action Network Alert: Congress to Vote on Poisoning People

From our friends at Drug Policy Alliance: Congress to Vote on Poisoning People This Week Earlier this year we warned you about a bill in Congress that would revive controversial research on the use of toxic, mold-like fungi called mycoherbicides to kill illicit drug crops in other countries. This provision could unleash an environmental disaster of monumental proportions. But Congressman Mark Souder and Senators Hatch and Biden are rushing it to the House and Senate floors this week. Here are three things you can do:
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