“The only way to have a drug free school is to follow the successful program
of the military and workplace”. This is stated by Rep. John E. Peterson in 2005.
In today’s volatile times, drug use is becoming more casual in high schools
around the country. Many schools are having to face this struggle against drug
use. Thus, I affirm that Resolved: Drug testing of high school extracurricular
activity participants is justified.To aid clarification in this round, I now present the
following definitions asdefined by the Webster Dictionary in 2005:Extracurricular
activity: not following or related to the curriculum, outside of one’s duties.
Drug: a non-prescribed, illegal chemical substance that affects the central
nervous system causing changes in behavior and strong dependency, addiction.
Consistent: holding true as a group, not contradictory. Justice: The principal of
moral rightness, fairness. The upolding of fair treatment, honor, standards, or
law. My value will be safety. Safety can be defined as freedom from danger, risk
or injury. Therefore, my criterion will be compliance of participants. Students
joining these activities must fulfill certain responsibilities to themselves and their
fellow teammates. Only with this compliance ensured, can safety of the student
be upheld.Contention One: Drug testing of participants is relevant to the lowering
of crime rates, and prevents threats against the safety of their fellow students.
As stated in Wikipedia in 2005, One high school in Oceanside, California,
conducted a study in 1997 in which they started drug testing extracurricular
participants before joining the activities. Positive outcomes occurred in the
school’s programs. The study showed that drug influenced violence rates among
participants were lowered considerably. From around 42 % to 27 %.
Many of the drug users in America are candidates for having a disease. The
most common disease amongst users is the AIDS virus. Maryland and Baltimore are two cities that have many users carrying this disease. In Maryland forty-two percent of the AIDS cases are drug related and in Baltimore, seventy percent are drug related. Drugs are the leading instigators of negative lifestyles. By having random drug-testing, public health will become better. From recent studies, the schools that do partake in student drug testing have found positive results. Joeseph R. McKinney is an Education Leadership professor at Ball State University. He did a study throughout Indiana on schools to compare drug use during the 1999-2000 school year when random drug-testing was legal compared to when it was illegal in the 2000-2001 school year. In his study, he used 65 high schools that “were identified as having random drug-testing programs.” His article "The Effectiveness of Random Drug Testing Programs: A Statewide Follow-up Study," explains how drug testing did cut back on teenagers’ use of drugs. Below are the statistics that...
