Citing a lack of evidence for its effectiveness, the American Academy of Pediatrics opposes school-based drug testing as a means of preventing substance abuse, although the AAP recognizes the need for school-based services for adolescents with substance use disorders, the organization announced in a statement.
Although a recently published study found that students subjected to school-based drug testing reported significantly lower rates of marijuana and other illicit drug use over a 30-day period, compared with students from schools without school-based drug testing, the AAP noted that students with substance abuse problems could be more likely to skip school to avoid testing, or simply use another drug, such as alcohol. Instead, the AAP recommends that schools should focus on enrolling adolescents with substance use disorders in substance abuse prevention programs and other intervention programs and referral systems (Pediatrics 2015 [ doi:10.1542/peds.2015-0054 ]). “Using limited resources to provide advice, counseling, and even on-site treatment of adolescents could both serve a preventive role and increase the number of adolescents who have their substance use disorders addressed and ultimately have a larger effect on reducing student drug use than drug testing alone. The two strategies have never been compared in a scientific study,” according to the AAP statement.
