President Bush's deputy drug Czar is in San Diego today to stump for mandatory random drug testing in public schools. Vista and Oceanside school districts have already implemented such policies. KPBS reporter Beth Ford Roth has more.
Deputy Drug Czar Mary Ann Solberg is traveling around the country to different drug policy summits, spreading the word about federal grants available for schools who want to implement mandatory drug testing. It's legal for schools to test students involved in athletics or any extra-curricular activities. Solberg calls testing a powerful prevention tool.
Solberg: We know that any drug use in a school building impacts standardized tests scores, and we have an obligation to allow our children to be all that they can be.
But critics say there isn't any hard scientific evidence that random mandatory drug testing reduces drug use. And they say testing may discourage at-risk students from getting involved in extra-curricular activities, which have been proven to reduce drug use among teens. Beth Ford Roth, KPBS News.
