Random drug testing should not be used in public schools.

Resolution Clarification: I'm talking about random drug testing only of students who participate in extracurricular activities. (i.e. You have to pass random drug tests to play basketball, etc.). Conditions/"Be Nice To Me's": This is a three-round debate. You may introduce new arguments in the first and second round, but I ask that my opponent refrain from doing so in the third round, as i will not be able to respond. In the third round i ask that my opponent only present rebuttals, etc to arguments presented earlier in the debate. I will do the same. Me Talking: About 40% of teens use marijuana. According to the Monitoring the Future study, 70% of high school students used alcohol in the last thirty days. Supporters of drug testing claim that it deters and/or catches drug users and protects children. But does it really deter drug use? A 2003 study conducted by the University of Michigan, drug testing had very little to no impact on drug use in high school students. Schools that tested their students and schools that did not had virtually the same rates of use. In fact, for whatever reason, it found that 12th graders were MORE likely to use marijuana at schools that test! I affirm the above resolution; for the following reasons: 1. Drug tests are ineffective. 2. Random drug testing violates constitutional rights and principles. 1. Drug Tests are Ineffective. Urine tests conducted by labs are only accurate 46.5% of the time according to Dr. Kent Holtorf. How are we supposed to rely on a rate so low? We can't count that a positive is a positive or that a negative is a negative! "Passive use" (essentially secondhand cannabis smoke) has caused false positives in urinalysis and hair follicle tests. As well, foods, medicines, and medical conditions can cause a false positive. Common cold medicines containing ephedrine can show up as amphetamines, poppy seeds as heroin, ginseng tea and higher doses of ibuprofen as marijuana. Diseases like diabetes cause chemicals in the body to be produced that can show a false positive for opiates, cocaine, and barbiturates. These tests (especially urine) are easy to beat if you know how (and there are plenty of websites dedicated to telling you how). There are essentially three ways to beat a urinalysis: Adulteration: mixing in another substance in your pee to dilute or mask signs of drug use. Household products can be used as well as commercially available ones. Substitution: Using someone else's pee. It could be a friend's or commercially available clean pee. Dilution: Drink enough liquids or other options to push the amounts of chemicals in urine that show drug use. You can simply drink a lot of water to dilute your pee, and take a B-vitamin to make it yellow again (because labs reject clear samples). These test also only test for certain drugs. Other drugs are impossible to detect. This means students can simply switch to another, potentially more harmful drug. Marijuana, relatively harmless, may stay in your system for up to a month. Alcohol, LSD, Ecstasy, and mushrooms are out of your system within hours or days of use, or just plain undetectable. Tests are also just too plain expensive to be using, especially being so susceptible to tampering and mistakes. Urinalysis costs about $20-60 for each test. More thorough tests cost upwards of $120. As well, NCAA drug testing standards require a second, backup test in case of a positive. Many high schools skip this second test because of the cost. This only increases the possibility of a false positive. 2. Random drug testing violates constitutional rights and principles. These tests violate constitutional principles, the first i will focus on being the concept of "innocent until proven guilty". Drug tests require you to prove your innocence, reversing the process to "guilty until proven innocent." This is an unacceptable practice. Next, testing violates the 4th Amendment (rights against searches and seizures). The key to this amendment is determining what searches are reasonable. This means that for a search to happen, you need probable cause, a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed. Random drug testing is by nature unreasonable. There has been no reason to suspect the student is using drugs. If there were reasonable suspicion, a drug test would be in line. However, the RANDOM factor means we're testing students without any suspicion. What if the government decided to submit citizens to random house searches for drugs? It's unconstitutional without probable cause/a warrant. Since a test constitutes a search, this is unconstitutional. Testing violates a student's right to privacy. Besides the act of asking already self-conscious teens to pee in a cup with a witness outside the stall or right next to them, there are more violations of privacy. As mentioned, certain medicines and conditions can cause a false positive. This forces students to disclose medical information to the school to be checked against the sample. This is a blatant invasion of a student's privacy. The tests also reveal more than just illicit drug use, they can reveal medical conditions, pregnancies, all sorts of things that schools do not have the right to demand. Testing violates the right to due process. There is no way to appeal a decision to remove a student from a team as a result of a drug test (or any other punishment). Student's have no way of appeal and no opportunity to defend themselves. In terms of due process, to test a student and then punish him/her for a positive is akin to a police officer searching your house or car without cause, then arresting and sentencing you without the right to appeal or defend yourself. The last constitutional right that testing violates is found in the 5th amendment: the right to remain silent. It essentially states that no one should be forced to be a witness against himself. Providing a urine, hair, or blood sample is basically being a witness against one's self. It is forced self incrimination. I eagerly await my opponent's opening arguments and wish him/her good luck!