No Child Left Untested

A very interesting look at drug testing in American schools. MSNBC features the views from the pro-drug-testing and the anti-drug testing sides of the debate. There are concerns about privacy:

Dr. Bertha Madras: Under ideal conditions the testing is random, which is critical. If it's a urine test, the child is asked to come down to the nurse's office. They walk in solo, they deposit a sample as they would in any doctor's office, they give the sample to the nurse who puts a little dip stick in, and the dip stick will say positive or negative.

Jennifer Kern: They are removed from their classrooms and are escorted to take a drug test, and if they end up with a positive test result they are removed from their extracurricular activity. And because this is a very public removal from the classroom and often a public removal from the extracurricular activity, the testing is not as confidential as promised.

Is there a risk that kids who test positive for drugs will be stigmatized?

Madras: The thing that I have heard is that everyone knows who's using drugs; there are no surprises amongst the kids. Kids know who are the users, their friends know, so when a kid is not engaged in sports for one game, nobody is surprised. I've been a parent all my life, and I knew which one of the kids I didn't want my kids near. I think the far greater risk is using the drug that can have adverse consequences on brain, body and behavior.

Translation: We already know who the drug users are and their feelings don't matter so it's no big deal if they get singled out.

Kern: What is the point of removing the kids from extracurricular activities when they are most in need of that support and there is the question of confidentiality and those students being labeled as the 'bad kid' and how that effects them?

Why didn't MSNBC ask about the costs of drug testing? These programs are expensive and are not proven to reduce student drug use. Why didn't they bother to bring that up? Read the whole thing. I especially like how the prohibitionist used the "successes" of drug testing in the military to justify intrusive drug testing of adolescents in a high school setting. Nice.

Teen drug use drops, with exceptions

Abuse of the painkiller OxyContin by younger teens hit record levels in 2006, a national survey says.

While most other teen drug and alcohol use continued a decade-long decline, teen abuse of pharmaceuticals, including prescription narcotics, barely budged, the survey says.

The annual survey of 50,000 high school and middle school students, released Thursday, was conducted by the University of Michigan for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

More kids raiding mom and dads' medicine cabinets, less kids raiding liquor cabinets and smoking weed. The whole report from the University of Michigan can be found here.

More Proof that the Gateway Theory is Bullshit

This is no news to anyone that is well-versed in the marijuana legalization movement. But I do feel debunking the gateway theory is extremely important because a lot of people are completely unaware that there is no scientific evidence to support it. This lie is still taught to children and is often repeated. I have even had "discussions" with like-minded people that believe in the gateway theory. Teachers and parents were all taught reefer madness and they repeat it to their kids. It's going to take a long time and a lot of work to undo the damage that the gateway theory has done to the cause of legalizing marijuana.

So without further ado, run on and read the latest research about the gateway theory.

Link

From today's Dear Abby

(December 18, 2006)

DEAR ABBY: When I learned that my 16-year-old son and his friends were high on marijuana at school, I reported them all to the administration. As a result, they were suspended from school for eight days. His friends' parents are furious with me, and now I am beginning to question whether I did the right thing.
My friends tell me I was right to do what I did. My son said I should have left his friends out of it. Apparently their smoking has been ongoing, and I do not believe it would have stopped unless they faced disciplinary action. By the way, I am a middle school teacher. What do you think? -- SECOND-GUESSING MYSELF IN SOUTH CAROLINA

DEAR SECOND-GUESSING: While I don't approve of minors getting high on anything, your solution was needlessly Draconian. Your son's friends' parents are angry because you did not consult them before reporting their children and allow them the option of handling the matter themselves. Frankly, I see their point. I think you jumped the gun, and you owe them an apology.

-----------------------------------

Dear Abby is written by Abigail Van Buren, also known as Jeanne Phillips, and was founded by her mother, Pauline Phillips. Write Dear Abby at www.DearAbby.com or P.O. Box 69440, Los Angeles, CA 90069.

Eight days of detention for smoking some grass seems a little counter-productive. These kids already like to get high, what do you think they are going to do on their eight days off? Those parents probably have jobs and aren't able to supervise those kids for that long. Not only that, they are going to get so far behind in their school work. I know what I would be doing on my eight day vacation. Puff puff pass, hand me the damn cheetos. I thought we were trying to encourage kids to stay in school????

Thanks Herb!

FORGET 'TOUGH LOVE'

I posted earlier about the parents that chose to send their kids to jail for their drug use. Luckily we have intelligent readers of the Winnipeg Free Press to give us some much-needed common sense.

FORGET 'TOUGH LOVE'

Re: Getting 'Tough-Love' On Crime, Nov. 4.

As a youth worker, I have worked with youth of many ages and backgrounds who have had addiction problems, and have seen youth with addictions from mild to life-threatening. I have seen and studied various techniques for dealing with drug use, and the "scared straight" or boot camp approach is largely regarded as ineffective. Taking your children to jail should be a last resort. The solution to a drug problem is not to take the drugs away from the kids, or to take the kids away from the drugs. It's to find out why the kids are doing them in the first place. Drug addiction is the symptom of a problem, not the problem itself.

Winnipeg is host to several drug treatment programs but more are needed. It would certainly be nice if a simple thing like three days in jail would cure anyone of a serious addiction, but the reality of addiction treatment is a long and difficult process. What Winnipeg needs is a good, secure, long-term facility that can take in addicts of all ages and backgrounds and treat them in an appropriate, caring and professional way.

Sharene Gilchrist

Winnipeg

This inspired me to send my own LTE, although I expect monkeys to fly out of my butt before my letter gets printed. *sniffle* Nobody loves me. :(

My reasons for disagreeing with the parents actions had more to do with showing my disapproval of the war on drugs than finding the most effective way to keep kids from using drugs. I doubt that any of those kids are "drug addicts". I agree with the Senate committee that the term drug addict needs to be retired.

I didn't put this in my LTE but holy over-reaction batman! Would a kid who experimented with alcohol and cigarettes have been hauled off to the slammer by their tough-love parents? And if so, would the judge have commended them for their loving actions? I sure as hell hope not, otherwise I am going to haul my kids off to jail the next time they fail to clean their rooms. That will learn'em. The moral of the story?


Alcohol, cigarettes > marijuana

This is what real activism looks like

Smoking in public, writing blogs, writing letters to the editor and marching in rallies are certainly not the only ways to be a good activist. After this story appeared on MAPinc, Judith Renaud of EFSDP talked to Mark Wintjes about the many reasons to be opposed to student drug testing.

I just got off the phone with Mark Wintjes, Principal of 100 Mile House Junior Secondary School. The drug testing kit is provided by Branan Medical Corporation, 'ORATECT' http://www.brananmedical.com

He did not know of any other school using the kit but he did say it was not suggested by his board it was a brochure that was sent from the company and landed on his Vice Principal's desk.

I asked him to check out our website and told him I will be sending him copies of DPA's Safetylst and Beyond Zero Tolerance booklets. What did come out of our conversation is how important it is to find out just how successful or unsuccessful drug testing is, Mark suggested I follow up with him in the next few months. He also reiterated that he will test only if approved by the parents.

Judith
Executive Director

This is the type of action that will make a real difference. Mr. Wintjes had not heard of EFSDP and it is time to get the word out about this fine organization. I do not agree with the addage "I would not join a club that would have me as a member."

But it is obvious that we need to get out there and let the educational world know that we exist. There is so much work for activists to do I sometimes have no idea where to begin.

Although I did tell a suspicious teacher about the federal medical marijuana program. She wasn't very receptive to the information that I gave her. Reefer madness is a huge force of evil, I tell you the truth.

Is this the first Canadian School to offer drug testing?

I would hope to never see a Canadian school following the American example and bringing drug-testing to the school system. Drug-testing is a feel-good solution to the drug problem that creates a lot of unintended consequences.

Should Dick or Jane wander into 100 Mile Junior one day and be suspected of being intoxicated or high, they could very well get enrolled in the latest course the school has to offer - Stimulant Analysis 101.

The principal of 100 Mile Junior, Mark Wintjes, has purchased test kits to detect alcohol and drug consumption.

Head of the school since Aug. 1, Wintjes made the decision to buy the kits in order to deter students from partaking.

I hope that Mr. Wintjes visits EFSDP for the scoop on drug testing. EFSDP does a much better job of explaining the pitfalls of drug-testing than I ever could.

Kids are Smarter than Adults

There is hope for this crummy world after all. In Durango High School a mock election had the students talking about some recent ballot initiatives, including amendment 44, the initiative to decriminilize possession of less than an ounce of pot.

No preliminary results were available, but students overwhelmingly said they favored legalizing marijuana and opposed banning gay marriage.

Freshman Trey Heath, 14, said he supported marijuana legalization.

"I don't believe in smoking marijuana, but if they ban it, people are just going to want to do it more," Heath said.

"What you can't have, you want to have," said another freshman, Franchesca Framer, 15. Furthermore, she said, "everyone does it anyway."

Students said people should be able to marry whomever they want.

"What if a man loves someone who's another man and a woman loves someone who's another woman?" said sophomore Alicia Hansen, 15. "I think it's fine."

Out of the mouths of babes...

Red Ribbon Week is Over

I complained about Red Ribbon Week before. Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem with teaching children to be safe and to stay away from drugs. However this whole Red Ribbon thing is very distasteful. It boils down to giving kids a red ribbon to wear and this is all you need to do to keep your kids safe. It also is a case of the school system giving tacit approval to the War on Some Drugs rather than pointing out how futile it is to lock up non-violent people in the first place.

" Stay away from alcohol, tobacco and drugs, " Hunton said. " For you all to be successful, you need to try your best to stay clean. "

Reh said this year's speakers did a good job delivering a drug-free message to students.

" They all volunteer their time to be here, " she said. " They're drug-free adults, and they're letting the kids see that you can have a great life if you stay drug free. "

Link

Except that a lot of adult role models do choose to have an alcoholic drink, smoke a cigarette or smoke the occasional joint and still manage to lead successful and happy lives. Do you think it is possible that kids are going to grow up, realize that they have been mislead and disregard the entire "drug-free" message? I know I felt the same way when I read unbiased information about marijuana and I found out that everything I was taught about marijuana was completely untrue. The school system misleads children and this makes me quite sad. I hope that it does save at least one child from doing drugs so they can justify the existence of these feel-good do-nothing Drug-War loving programs but I doubt it.

I would be in favor of having a Green Ribbon campaign to go along with the Red Ribbon campaign to commemorate all the people killed and harmed by the War on Drugs.

Although I am not sure why they would include pre-schoolers in all this. Does a pre-schooler have the ability to understand an anti-drug message?

There are many stories show-casing children and their commitment to stay drug-free, as though students in grade five are going to keep these promises when they become teenagers. Fighting THE MAN is a normal part of becoming an adult and doing ILLEGAL drugs is a cheap way to show that you are so much better than your parents. If drugs weren't illegal, would it be as tempting to show your independance by doing drugs? Drug use is not effected by draconian American prohibition any more than it is effected by the relatively liberal drug policy employed by the Netherlands.

Stumbleweed stumbles

Debunking bullshit drug propaganda designed to terrify teenagers is one of my favorite things. I love it almost as much as tormenting the eardrums of my dog with my terrible clarinet-fueled musical styling.

There is just one thing I must do before I get to the fun part where I lambaste morons and make myself feel important. I must point out that the sheer volume of bullshit propaganda pretending to be education is so vast that this blog can only be a pin in the proverbial haystack. However, for the sake of my sanity and to give me good practice writing and arguing with my imaginary friends, I must give it an honest attempt.

The magazine in question is entitled “StumbleWeed” which is linked to http://www.justthinktwice.com/ It uses the same scare tactics that are used unsuccessfully by abstinence-only “educators” and it contains many lies and exaggerations and very little content.

The overall tone of the magazine is preachy, judgmental and misleading. Where do I even begin?

How about with the obnoxious cartoons? They look like something out of a Christian children’s’ coloring book.



Isn’t it cool how they use patronizing acronyms like U and R on the front page? What a great way to show teens that we are one of them!!! The marketing geniuses that worked hard on this must really be patting each other on the ass right now. The following quote is taken from the first page:

“Truth is, marijuana is not just a plant.”

If it’s not a plant, what is it? Even though the media frequently shows grow-ops being dismantled by people wearing protection equipment that looks suited for a space launch, this does not refute the fact that:

MARIJUANA IS A PLANT!

How do they get away with putting a blatant lie in the very first sentence of this booklet? This is supposed to be factual material designed to educate students about the real dangers of drugs. Instead we have a booklet designed to convince teenagers that marijuana is not a plant.


But if you read on it gets even worse. It would take too long to debunk every single stupid thing that was written so I am just going to show you the “short list” and the truth about each erroneous claim being made:


DEA: “The THC content of marijuana has increased dramatically since the 60’s and 70’s. The higher THC levels make marijuana far more powerful-and dangerous- for young people whose brains are not fully developed.”

TRUTH: While it is true that the potency of marijuana has increased somewhat since the 60’ and 70’s there is no reason to believe that this makes it more dangerous for consumption. The user tends to smoke until the desired effect is obtained. There is a very good reason to believe that stronger pot may in fact be less dangerous than less potent pot, since the user of stronger pot will be exposed to far less burning plant material. It is impossible to ingest enough marijuana to cause a fatal overdose, unlike alcohol, so why the fake concern over increased potency?

DEA: Over the years, as marijuana’s potency has grown, so have emergency room episodes.



TRUTH: If you look at this chart, you might mistakenly believe that marijuana must be a terribly harmful substance to result in so many emergency room visits. What they fail to mention is that these statistics are based on the number of times patients mention marijuana use. It does not necessarily mean that marijuana was the cause of the emergency room visit. They also fail to mention that nobody has ever fatally overdosed from the use of marijuana.

DEA: Many teens believe:
- there’s no penalties for growing and dealing.
- that driving after smoking pot makes them better drivers.
- Marijuana is harmless.

TRUTH: Any time broad sweeping generalizations are made about a large and diverse group of people, it should set off your bullshit detector. It is quite insulting and presumptuous to talk about what “many teens” believe. If they are uninformed about the legal, social and physical risks involved with using marijuana, then parents and the education system have failed to teach them. The solution would be teaching teens the truth and ensuring that they read Stumbleweed and recognize lies and misinformation when they see it.

DEA: You can lose your student loan if you sell or grow marijuana while you are receiving educational assistance from the government.

TRUTH: It isn’t just growers and sellers that are at risk of losing funding. You are also at risk if you are convicted of possession. I wonder why they do not include this fact on “Stumbleweed” but rather rely on the reader to click their link to find out the truth. This is especially interesting considering that they have a disclaimer in regards to the validity of the information on external web sites. It doesn’t seem like the DEA wants teens to know the entire truth after all.

DEA:

Smoked Marijuana is not medicine

Even though some groups have endorsed smoking marijuana for medical use, major medical organizations do not agree. This is what they say:
• The American Academy of Pediatrics “opposes the legalization of marijuana.”
• The American Medical Association rejected marijuana as medicine.
• The Glaucoma Research Foundation calls medical marijuana a “poor choice” in treating glaucoma.
• The National MS Society says that there is “…insufficient data to recommend marijuana…for treatment of multiple sclerosis.
• Even the Supreme Court rejected medical marijuana.

TRUTH: The ongoing fight to allow sick and dying people to use the medicine prescribed by their doctors is complicated. The use of medical marijuana is endorsed by many organizations. There are at least 10 states that allow medical marijuana users access to their medicine despite the federal prohibitions against the use of marijuana as medicine. Although the DEA continues to enforce state laws by enlisting armed jack-booted thugs to endanger the lives of medical patients, these actions are opposed by many state governments.

The DEA must think the educational system has done an extremely poor job teaching critical thinking skills if they think your average teen is not going to recognize this booklet for what it is-propaganda. It is quite apparent that the DEA should leave drug education in the hands of educators.

For anyone interested in learning about the truth about marijuana and the risks it poses to teens, I highly recommend Safety First.

* All images taken from the Stumbleweed site