Should Tennessee randomly drug test all high school students who sign up for extra curricular activities?

I agree with one of the the other comments. I believe teachers, principals, and all those working in the schools should be tested also. I bet we would be shocked to see how many of them are not pratcing what is being preached by the school. With that said, I think the athletic kids should not be tested anymore than a suspision allows for. Why not test kids who are not athletic as well? Most kids that are athletic strive for good health and try to matintain a good lifestyle. Not that they are exempt from getting hooked on anything, but so are the other kids. Why just test the kids who are putting forth an effort to do something with their extra time and maintain good grades to play in sports? I would love to see all school staff be tested and not be told in advance.

The ones who or asking for other activities or the ones that or making good grades and getting somewhere in life so why treat them like the or the low life,s it could just make them give up on the good things they or doing from being treated like that, they ones who should be tested or they ones with bad grades and does not turn in their work and hanging out with friend all the time.

And if you're going to test the students for drugs, you should also test the teachers, administrators, janitors, school office workers, cafeteria workers and the entire works.

If the testing is only done for illegal drugs and not prescription drugs, you'll still miss the mark. To my knowledge the testings are usually carried out for such illegal drugs as marijuanna, cocaine etc., but not prescription painkillers that some kids have died from recently.

Drug testing violates the Fourth Amendment (no matter what those corrupt judges say). No one should ever be drug tested!

we need less goverment in our personal lives and more in big bisness they are the ones who mess things up for very one else

SOME WOULD TAKE IT TOO FAR. I KNOW WHEN I WAS IN SCHOOL, I HAD STAYED UP ALL NIGHT (NOT ON DRUGS... JUST STRESSED) AND THE NEXT DAY WHEN I KEPT FALLING ASLEEP IN CLASS, I WAS TREATED LIKE A DRUG ADDICT. I HAD NEVER HAD A HISTORY OF DRUG INVOLVEMENT OF ANY KIND, AND I WAS "INCARCERATED" IN THE OFFICE ALL DAY. ALL I NEEDED WAS A GOOD POWERNAP, AND I WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE. THERE IS ALWAYS SOMEONE OUT THERE WHO WILL ABUSE THE SYSTEM. KEEP THAT IN MIND. AND IF YOU DO IT FOR 1 PARTICULAR GROUP, YOU NEED TO DO IT FOR ALL.

I don't think that drug testing should just be limited to students that want to participate in extra curricular activities. I believe that any student that has suspicious behavior should be tested not just athletes. Those that do not play any sports should not be overlooked when they act out. It's not fair to only make one group do it and not the rest of the student body.

Here we are, as a society, trying to figure out how to get more kids involved in positive activities, and out of gangs, to help reduce violence in and out of schools, and were going (as usual) in the exact opposite direction we need to be going.

This will only discourage kids who might be on the fringe, teetering on the edge as it were, of falling into, or staying in with the wrong crowd, from attempting to do something good with their lives.

It's interesting that we, the most incarcerated nation per capita on the planet, with approx. 50% of those being non-violent, drug related offences, also have the highest prescription drug usage of any nation, with Tennessee leading the way.

Apparently what we're saying, is that if you pay your insurance premiums and Dr. co-pays, thereby enriching the health establishment, pharmacutical and insurance companies, it's alright to take all the drugs your insurance will keep paying for; but, if God places a substance on this planet, that needs not undergo any man-made chemical process, has proven health benefits, but is difficult to tax, we should spend $30,000 dollars/year to put the person caught using that natural substance in prison.

We have LOTS of bigger issues confronting our country. One of the biggest is an out of whack perspective on health, crime, drugs, and punishment.

Perhaps if we made eating fast food a crime, since it's contribution to obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and some cancers are increasing health care costs, airfares, and gas prices to the tune of Billions of dollars, we could gain energy independence, rein in exhorbitent health care costs, and balance the national debt, all at once.

There must be dozens, if not hundreds of better ideas out there. If we continued on this strand of reasoning, shouldn't we drug test EVERY student? How many BILLIONS of dollars would school systems lose when half the student population tested positive?

I guess we can't expect our legislators to be capable of higher reasoning and rational thought - they also are the product of our school system.

You know, if a person is arrested and held for trial on a drug charge, they are considered to be innocent until they are proven guilty. So, why in the world should we change that for high schoolers just because they want to join in some activity at school? Are we saying they are guilty until we prove them to be otherwise? Come on, I know there are bad seeds out there, and even kids who didn't mean to get addicted, but it isn't fair to do that to kids who really haven't done anything wrong. That is going too far.

I think all the kids from 6th grade up should be randomly drug tested in all schools. I think if all the kids were drug tested, less drugs would be used. I believe that anytime it is suspected that a student is on drugs, they should be drug tested imediately.