This is horrifying! Just how much personal privacy and personal freedom are we going to give up to the fear mongers? When will they start random drug testing people in the streets? For that matter, when will they start coming into homes to see how much fried food we're eating or whether we weigh an unhealthy amount? Yes, drugs are a problem, smoking is a health problem, fried food is a health problem, too many video games or violent movies or platform shoes... You get the point. We need to address social problems with information and support programs, not by ripping away personal privacy and freedoms. And children do not give up their rights and freedoms just because they attend public shools. Just how Big Brother-ish are we going to get in this country?

Well- if they start drug testing teenagers they might as well test all the teachers, professors, security guards, head of school board- all of them. Because I'm pretty damn sure that's what will be said if they even think about pee testing students.

While I think that it is unfortunate that it has come to testing school students for drugs, I think that it is necessary. Drug use among teens is high and we need to do something to slow this down. People submit to drug testig for employment why not test students? Perhaps it will help.

This is a freaking travesty. Another infringment upon our civil rights by the Federal Government. What next? They might just start testing everyone. While I understand that drugs are a problem for some people, there should still be a level of privacy between a Government and it's people. When this is lost we have truly entered into a Socialist society.

I think it is a sad thing that the country built on freedom is having so many taken away. It all comes down to parenting. When I was in High school I didn't do drugs for the simple fact that getting caught by my parents would result in the butt kicking of my life. Don't get me wrong, I was never abused as a child, the threat was enough! Now days the government is creeping into our houses and telling us what we can and cannot do with ourselves, our children, and our lives. “Big Brother” needs to respect the fact that we are intelligent human beings that got them elected into office and do their jobs. They should be more concerned with providing health care and training benefits then how bad they think the average persons parenting skills are. Before you know it we will be living in a country with no rights and no freedoms if we continue to let the government creep into our lives for our own protection.

Reality is-i'ts a necessary evil brought on by ourselves. As a parent I welcome it- maybe if this type of testing had been in place 25 yrs ago I wouldn't have had to experience addition to drugs myself?!?! We have to save our future somehow!

While I do not advocate drug use, I firmly believe that the State should stay out of our personal lives. Too many of our responsibilities are already given up. At this rate, the day will come that "they" will have more rights to our personal space than we do and we will have given it to them.

Sickening. what do all the conservatives keep telling us this war is about? Freedom!! Hahaha...The jokes on us. We have all become so stupid, and they want us this way. We let this sh** float over our heads. The worst drug on the planet? Alcohol!

I am OK with drug testing the students and the faculty/admin people. Drug abuse has gotten out of control. The informational stuff and teaching is not making an impact. It's the "bad apple spoiling the barrel". I also think that people on Welfare or Public Assist should also be tested. Too many are "disabled" because of drug use, but the bleeding heart groups will protest and say "it's against their constitutional right (for us to support them, but not monitor their drug habit). We have become enablers with "turning our backs" on the problems and not actually doing something that really solves the problems of drug addiction

Why would we expect anything different from the Bush administration?! From the start of his presidency there has been a slow bloodletting of our civil rights. This will continue if some of us help elect another president from that same party!!

I admit that thier is a drug problem in the schools, but instead of having manditory testing of the students, it should be put to the parents discretion. I admit that there have been a few times where I was tempted to take my child to the doctor and have them tested, but that is my choice as a parent.
Instead of testing why don't they have mandatory education classes on the mental and physical affects of using drugs, like they have sex education in Junior High? Wouldn't that also be covered under the federal grant?

wow so you can collect welfare,you can collect unemploymen, you can get asssisted living/low income housing but no drug testing is done. if anyone needs to be tested its those who are abusing our hard earned tax dollars to get high,yes i have drug test for my job, i submit to that, its a private organizatioin which requires it, but for the Govnment to require such a thing is definitly infringing upon our rights. whats next really?? and i also guarantee school administrators/teachers wouldn't have to submit to randomly maybe to get the job, but not randomly, if the school suspects drug use they should contact the parents to recieve permission atleast!!!!

I believe that schools do best when they focus on education. Parents can do drug testing if they want. I don't want any school asking my child to pee in a cup. That's family business. Schools should stick to their own academics and leave the other stuff to parents.

Schools already have their favorite studens. So who will they give the drug test to? Will it be used to get rid of unwanted students. It seems lately the goverment wants more and more control over our lives and family.. I am almost 62 and I will let all of you know one thing. When I went to school I was taught at the time that Russia did this kind of stuff. I was taught how lucky I was to be an American and to be free. I pray from my grandchildren
...

I am concerned that if this comes to pass, children who have joined sports and in turn have also joined new "clicks", will not do so if they know that they will be tested. The only way to make it fair is to have all students tested.
In doing this you also might see a higher drop out average because kids do what they can to not be caught.
It is really a no win situation, we want to protect our children, but they want to be left alone.
What message are we sending that we are handing our parental responsibilities over to the government?

How George Orwellish. Someone should test our elected officials. Just another chink in our rights being taken away.

let me guess... administered by Blackwater?

Let's See.....

Random Drug Testing in Schools ???

While We're at it....

Let's also do the following.

Embed tracking chips in our kids so the government can track their every move because let's face it..... anyone of " us " could be aterrorist.

Let's also have our bank transactions, deposits, online bill pay, online purchases, e-mail accounts, phones, computers ( personal and/or Business as well as cell phones and anything else they ( the Government ) wants to track to Quote en Quote keep us safe from Terrorists.....

For those of you out there who think that letting the government drug test your kid is actually going to benefit them or anyone else is not only arrogantly stupid, but might also want to seek some serious therapy as it's people like you along with all the other " Sheep " who are Letting this country go down the F****ING Drain.

Stop Giving up your Civil Rights People!!!!

SAY NO AND FIGHT BACK AGAINST THIS REPRESSIVE AND FACIST GOVERNMENT OR ELSE YOU WILL ATRGETED AS WELL.

Just because you agree doesn't mean you have to become a follower.....

Open your mind and think for yourselves for a change and stop letting others brainwash you into believing it's for the greater good.....

It's Not.....

The President is an admitted coke head, alcoholic, drunk driver with ADD or ADHD. He did just fine without testing..er wait a second

Keeping my kids healthy is important. But it's equally important for me to teach them never to agree to give up their rights just for the sake of safety.

Just one more example of how public school students have no civil liberties.

My opinion is that if you put testing in the high school we're just going to have more drop outs. I was in high school 2 years ago and I know kids who got 3.5 gpa's but smoked a little pot. Let me tell you they would have just dropped out. Be careful when you try to over protect children who just aren't that little anymore!

School is to LEARN ....

Why don't we stick to that..

Because lets face it we haven't gotten it right yet!!!

If we had the topic of drug tests at school would have never came up!

So let me get this right, a kid wants to attend an after school event, something that generally keeps them off the streets and out of trouble, and they want to drug test them?
This is a waste of my money!

The families that support these events, often spend thier own money to help fund these programs because the budgets are tight. Now the say that they have money to spend on drug testing our kids?

So as schools are overcrowded and teachers are underpaid, they want to spend money on this, extra money that is available? I thought that the grade point average was being used to keep the kids motivated and on the straight and narrow if they wanted to attend these programs, but now that isn't enough so let's drug test them............ This is a joke!

If they do this, a year from now they will come back and say that the drug problem in schools isn't as bad as they thought and the extra money will dry up and they will spend it on some other useless study, all the while missing the ball, and testing the wrong kids.

Instead spend the money at the task at hand which is teaching our kids.
The kids in afterschool programs aren't the ones who need testing, and the schools aren't the ones that need to be spending my money to do it!

This is a joke right??? You can't be serious... "It worked in the workplace"? How and where do you find it working. I sit next to people who talk about drinking, smoking pot and taking drugs ALL the time!!! You are saying that you have stamped out drug use among adults and now it's just the teenagers who are taking drugs??? Give me a break. Leave us alone. Aparently I didnt do enough drugs... If I had just done coke I could have been president for Gods sake! A million times no to this trash. This is unreal that people would agree to let someone drug test their child to be able to go to school. My god... how about you bring home our troops or stop corruption in politics and let us smoke our pot or drink our beer if that is what we choose to do... keep the hell away from my children!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First, I want to say that I am totally against this, but, if people are going to drop out because they are on drugs, then they are just wasting their time in school anyway. Out of all the kids in school Natalie that smoked pot, how MANY of them had 3.5 gpa's? Compared to the rest? Just because they had 3.5 GPA's doesn't make it right. And if they are that "smart" anyway, I doubt very seriously they are going to quit school so they can do drugs...but nothing would surprise me anymore.

You have to substantiate your argument with stats or facts...not just experience.

I wish they would just legalize drugs altogether so those who want to pollute their bodies and OD will just do it. That would make for less addicts and we wouldn't have to pay for their rehabilitation.

Sounds harsh, but anyone who does drugs, know the risks and do them anyway. Stupid is as stupid does.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How is it that the government can fund something like this when there is not even enough books to go around in our kids classrooms half the time. The schools and the government need to be focusing all their attention on teaching our children how to spell and do math, and learn about history. It seems to me that now a days there is so much involvement by the government than when I was a kid, or maybe it was just not as noticable. I feel that when the government or the school system starts feeding or clothing my child, then they can do these things, until then they can take their funding and their contracts and stick where the sun does not shine.

And another thing... so if a child wants to participate in something called 'knowledge bowl' or anything else educational and has smoked pot, you would deny the child that opportunity? What sense does that make???????? You make it so that if a child thinks for themselves they are punished with a life of poverty and torture since they won't get in to a decent university for smoking pot while in HIGH SCHOOL!!! You need to be sent back to school and get your head straightened. My god....

NO, i dont agree with the drug tests it school. i know it is a problem today but how much more is the government going to take away from us if we the people let them do drug tests. lets face it.... pretty soon the land that once use to be about freedom is going to be controlled by the mindless government that wants to keep us "safe" but really they are bored with their own life's. So many of my friends from other countries want to come to America because we are the land of the free.... well how much longer are we going to be free if we keep handing over a little bit of our own freedom to the government without a fight. come on people what happened to "the land of the free" and "United We Stand"? by doing drug tests randomly in school then the government will find another way to be our "big brother" so my fellow Americans stand up for yourself and our rights to be free. if not then all the people that found for our freedom died for nothing. i think it is time that we the citizens of the United States fight or go to "war" with the government and congress to gain back our own freedom and life's.

hi,
i dont have kids in school, but if i am paying taxes for them, then i think they should at least be sober and not sleeping.
but who pays for this? me again?
just my humble opinion

I am a 30 year old mother of 2 under the age of 10. I want my children safe. I think that if they need to administer drug testing for all of the extra curicular activities then so be it. Who's fault will it be when a 16 year old is playing at his high school football game and colapses due to a heart attack because he is a cronic meth user? I believe that this could save childrens lifes. I do have to say...if they do decide to do this at the high schools, they also need to have someone standing outside of each and every DSHS building doing the same thing!

I agree that such a measure would take some freedom away from people, but as a high school senior in a small rural town, with a high drug-use percentage, I feel that something similar could be extremely affective.

Nothing is more irritating than sitting in class while the preson next to you is high and causing a disturbance to the rest of the class. I've even witnessed kids selling drugs DURING class lectures. It's completely out of hand and something should be done, even if this particular approach is wrong.

How many liberties are going to be taken away from us? Not that I support drugs but anymore someone else has a sob story about how their friend or someone had this happen to them and how if only this or that law had been in place, they wouldn't have had that happen! I am tired of stupid people making stupid decisions and everyone else has to pay for it. Sue you, Sue me, oh wait, I can't? Lets make a law so I can. This is how stupid we are. The parents are the ones who need to be held responsible because they are the ones not doing their job. So lets take more responsibility off their shoulders so they don't need to pay attention to their kids.

Only way this drug testing should work is if the kid has been caught prior by someone and told the parents. And use the test as a way to monitor them to help them stay clean. Sad thing is that if we actually did our jobs and taught our kids to be responsible, they wouldn't do half the stuff they do. I was taught well and I understood what would happen if I did drugs and so I have never done them and will never.

People, take responsibility and TALK to your kids and don't hide the fact that you did them and don't be surprised when they tell you they have already tried them. If they get caught after telling you that they have tried them, then you can punish them.

Are you kidding me!! Thanks to the Patriot Act, Stuff like this is possible!! Yep Your Hard $$ at work. What ever happened to looking for Al Qaeda, And Bin Laden?

Given how even the notion of suggestion this creates a firestorm of arguements, makes one think that this whole thing is just a SMOKE SCREEN to redirect MEDIA and PUBLIC attention away from THINGS MORE IMPORTANT.

I SMELL A CONSPIRACY HERE!

I have a great idea ... RANDOM DRUG TESTING FOR PEDESTRIANS IN DOWNTOWN SEATTLE!

RANDOM TRAFFIC STOPS FOR DRUG TESTING!

RANDOM DRUG TESTING FOR SEAHAWK FANS!

When I was in the military I was subjected to "random drug testing", what they did was take specimens from everyone in our unit and test a random number of the samples, usually 10-15%. What our public schools need are “random drug testing” where they test all of the specimens, randomly throughout the year. This would maximize the likelyhood that anyone using/abusing drugs is actually caught and gets the help they need. How it’s funded is a major issue, but I don’t want to get started on taxes which are a whole other issue.

Unfortuantely for the federal government, the kids that are involved in extra caricular activities are usually the ones that DON'T use drugs.

I'm all for kids not doing drugs but I agree with others that this is going too far. Its one thing for a private company to have rules in place for testing their employees, its quite another for the government to be doing it. This is just one more piece of proof that the war on drugs is a complete failure and the goverment is overreaching.

Life is full of many pitfalls, drugs being one of them, and children have to make crucial decisions when it counts that can affect the rest of their lives. Strong parenting will be what is really going to solve this problem for the most part, not more government intrusion.

I am all for testing the children as long as anyone receiving welfare or food stamps are tested and more importantly all of Congress and the Senate should be as well. I would bet that would be a shocker.

I think we need random drug testing in the white house before we start on the kids.

And how will they pay for this? At the school where I teach, we have overcrowded classrooms and we can't afford new books to replace the old, torn-up ones.

The fact is that they could never afford this / pull this off without a huge supreme court battle. But what's more disturbing to me is that members of our government are wasting time with such a worthless idea.

What ever happened to our "RIGHT" as citizens of the U.S. Obviously people wanna change the rules around here which would end up comming out of "OUR" pockets as tax payers.Am I right? I would never vote for that law to pass.

Another Law they wanna pull through with is DUI roadside checks..."WOW" another payment the tax payers would have to deposit their hard earned money into. If they want to have roadside blocks they should have patrol post up around the BARS, CLUBS, CASINOS, and Restaurants since most have bars inside them, whats next the cops posting up at the liquor store. It's already enough that we have to pay for prisoners in jail and their food and boarding.

This is outrageous! I am strongly opposed to treating children like they have no rights. Are we going to test kindergardener's too? This is just plain ludicrous. Dont' even ask where the money to pay for it is to come from when in our school district we are having problems funding things like science projects for the students and new books. Parents need to be responsible for their children and the schools need to COMMUNICATE with the parents...if parents suspect drug use then go purchase a 12$ test kit and test your child..then follow up as appropriate.

If a school suspects a student to be under the inflence, they should notify the parent that something is wrong ,and refer to their pvt. medical md.Then offer information on getting help if needed.

Mandatory drug testing of children in public schools is simply not enough. Studies show that adult drug use is equally widespread and even more damaging to society. We need mandatory random drug testing for everyone, everywhere, all the time, adults and teens alike. Anyone using public facilities of any kind including libraries, parks, streets, and sidewalks should be subject to random drug testing. Concerns about individual freedom and dignity pale beside the greater need for safety and security. We can rely on our government to keep the information confidential and private. If you don't have anything to hide, why should you worry?

The high cost to medical care is overwhelming d/t the addicts of this country. They overdose, are brought into the hospital unconcious, often times placed on a ventilator and they don't have insurance or are on public assistance because they are disabled (d/t to their drug addiction or alcoholism often times) we save them to go back and reoffend. Adults are just as guilty as kids (of all ages), some parents think it is "fun" to be a friend and share with their child(ren) and friends. Too many parents are too busy working or dealing with their own issues to pay attention to what their kid is up to (and yes shame on them and it is their problem), but it is then brought into the public sector where students that aren't using drugs are trying to get an education and have disruptions that prevent their full potentials. And God forbid that the school would call a parent and tell them they suspect or have caught the child with some sort of drug or drug "toys" as many of these parents have "blinders" on and deny that their precious little darling would ever do anything like that. So since society as a whole has not control, why shouldn't the government step in. We don't do anything to stand up for our rights as a whole anyway. If we did, we wouldn't have all the illegal immigrants taking jobs and using up medical care and getting promised amnesty and given Medicare without having to contribute, we wouldn't be dictated to that we can't sasy Merry Christmas because it is politically correct "Happy Holidays" has to be said because we don't want to offend someone. God forbid..oops I shouldn't use that word either it might offend someone. Fot those of you against the drug testing, do something instead of being appalled that it is being considered, and just complain about how the government is taking away our rights. We have collectively allowed it.

Are you kiding me?? Leave the raising of my children to me, thankyouverymuch. Start testing the staff first. Try using the funds for stricter hiring policies and better background checks on those who teach our children.

I am a sophomore in high school and I participate in spring sports and I strongly support the idea of random drug testing for students. If all students can't be tested then at least the student athletes should be tested. Alcohol should also be tested for. If you are playing sports you are under athletic code. That means you are not suppsoed to be drinking or doing drugs and if you are you don't deserve to play. It might ruin some schools' teams but, it will cause the students to choose what is most important to them, sports or drugs. The kids who follow the rules and don't do drugs, like they are supposed to, should be the ones playing not the kids who do drugs. I don't care how good of an athlete you are. You drink, you do drugs, you don't play. It's that simple and it's the way it should be.

Before we drug test our children let's make sure the ones who are "teaching" our children are drug free. They have random drug testing for school bus drivers, but not for teachers or pretty much any staff other then bus drivers. I say start with principals, teachers and once they are weeded out then move on to testing our kids.