Students who are drug tested in middle school are less likely to do drugs later
By P.T.
Published: March 8, 2013
A six year study done by the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, an organization with the mission to unsell illegal drugs, and Fairleigh Dickinson University found that random drug and alcohol testing in middle school reduces the rate of drug and alcohol abuse in high school.
The study surveyed more than 3,500 middle school students in schools with and without random drug testing programs. It measured the students’ perceived danger of drugs and alcohol use, and their social contact with drugs.
Dan Cassino, a professor of political science at the university said, “We still see a spike around the junior year of high school. Once the kids get a car and get a job, all bets are off, and the rates of drug and alcohol use go through the roof; but that spike is much smaller among students who actually were randomly drug tested at some point.”
The cost of putting together such a program in any school is inhibitive, and as a result the findings of this study is not as practical or applicable as one would assume.