Expert calls for random drug testing in schools

By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

Dr. Beny J. Primm, Executive Director of the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation

Dr. Beny J. Primm, Executive Director of the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation and past member of President George Bush’s Council on HIV/AIDS, said that random drug testing can have a major impact on youth substance abuse and thus prevent other related issues.

“The use of alcohol and other drugs is directly associated with the leading causes of death and injury among teenagers and young adults, such as motor vehicle crashes, homicides and suicides,” Primm said. 

He noted that while teenagers whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drugs and alcohol are 42% less likely to use drugs than those whose parents do not. Only one in four students in the US reported having had these conversations - thus highlighting the need for random testing.

“Random testing gives students a powerful incentive to abstain from drug use and can provide young people with a reason to never start. Since introducing random testing in some urban US schools in 2001 there has been a 24% decrease in overall usage of illicit substances,” Primm said.

According to a 2002 research study entitled Adolescent Health in the Caribbean: Risk and Protective Factors, reasons such as “parental substance abuse, rage, abuse, parental violence, and having a family member or friend who had attempted suicide” can lead to a higher risk of youth substance abuse.     ~~Adz:Right~~

Because of the myriad causes, finding an effective broadly-applied deterrent such as random testing would help to prevent what Primm called a “calamitous occurrence” if youth substance abuse goes unchecked.

He also said that one study from January 2002-January 2006 found random drug testing in the workplace caused a reduction in marijuana usage by 34%.

Aside from reducing the above mentioned risks to teen life, Primm made a direct connection between substance abuse and the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

“Among sexually active teens, those who average five or more drinks daily were nearly three times less likely to use condoms, thus placing them at a greater risk for HIV infection. Alcohol and drugs lower a person’s inhibitions, which leads them to participate in risky sexual behaviour more often.”

With the Caribbean recording as many as two times the number of newly HIV infected adults and children as the US, Primm said that all efforts must be made to reduce the number of factors contributing to the disease’s exponential growth in the region.

In addition to random drug testing, Primm called for a “one-stop shopping” facility for those with substance abuse disorders, mental illnesses and HIV/AIDS infection, as it is his professional opinion that all of these are interrelated.

Such a facility would provide various forms of counseling, medical care, job training, spiritual guidance and legal assistance as a way of providing holistic treatment to those in need.

“It is time that we talk about these issues openly, honestly and realistically,” Primm said. “We know that they affect everyone and we are all doing them, and it is time we create some real answers through open dialogue.”