Student Drug Testing
As times change, more and more students across the nation, and even the world, are encountering drugs. Despite the health education lessons and warnings teens continually receive, some students succumb to peer pressure and curiosity. In response to increased illegal drug use, a growing number of schools use student drug testing, especially random drug testing, as a prevention tactic.
Drug testing is becoming a more widely known solution against drug use in schools across the nation. Student drug testing, commonly referred to as SDT, is the act of testing a student in a school for the presence of substances. Examples of these substances include marijuana, non-medical prescription drugs, synthetic drugs, and cocaine. Schools test a wide variety of people, frequently testing athletes in particular. In addition to athletes, others tested include extracurriculars, and more recently, students who do not participate in extracurriculars (Terry-McElrath, O’Malley, Johnston). …show more content…
Similar to cigarette and alcohol use, marijuana use during adolescence destroys the brain’s development during the most critical stages of growth. An annual national survey, Monitoring The Future, reported in 2013 approximately 40% of high school seniors in public and private schools across the country had said they had smoked marijuana in the previous year. Studies have shown adolescents are more likely to use a drug if it is seen as unharmful to their overall health. With more and more states legalizing medical marijuana, and more recently, legalizing recreational marijuana, it is not viewed as dangerous as cocaine or other prohibited drugs. Recent studies have shown an increasing amount of high school users have reported they use marijuana daily. This type of use is the most detrimental to brain functions and performance
As times change, more and more students across the nation, and even the world, are encountering drugs. Despite the health education lessons and warnings teens continually receive, some students succumb to peer pressure and curiosity. In response to increased illegal drug use, a growing number of schools use student drug testing, especially random drug testing, as a prevention tactic.
Drug testing is becoming a more widely known solution against drug use in schools across the nation. Student drug testing, commonly referred to as SDT, is the act of testing a student in a school for the presence of substances. Examples of these substances include marijuana, non-medical prescription drugs, synthetic drugs, and cocaine. Schools test a wide variety of people, frequently testing athletes in particular. In addition to athletes, others tested include extracurriculars, and more recently, students who do not participate in extracurriculars (Terry-McElrath, O’Malley, Johnston). …show more content…
Similar to cigarette and alcohol use, marijuana use during adolescence destroys the brain’s development during the most critical stages of growth. An annual national survey, Monitoring The Future, reported in 2013 approximately 40% of high school seniors in public and private schools across the country had said they had smoked marijuana in the previous year. Studies have shown adolescents are more likely to use a drug if it is seen as unharmful to their overall health. With more and more states legalizing medical marijuana, and more recently, legalizing recreational marijuana, it is not viewed as dangerous as cocaine or other prohibited drugs. Recent studies have shown an increasing amount of high school users have reported they use marijuana daily. This type of use is the most detrimental to brain functions and performance