editorial comment Ask Ricky Williams...... one more nudge on the road to serfdom!

Novi Community Schools and parents in the district should reject a proposal to randomly test high school athletes.


Mandatory drugs tests, even if sanctioned by the U.S. Supreme Court, are an unwarranted invasion of privacy and a poor civics lesson for students.


If the district approves the proposed policy for Novi High School, it could logically extend the tests to homeroom officers, cheerleaders and, for that matter, the entire student body. Athletes are no more likely than any other group to use drugs or alcohol. They are probably less likely to do so.


There's nothing inherently wrong with testing students who show clear signs of using drugs or alcohol. But random testing demands no indications. Neither is it especially effective. A recent University of Michigan study found little difference in drug use among students at schools with drug testing and those at schools without it.


Besides testing, the proposal, now before the school district's athletic committee, calls for athletes to miss 25 percent of the season if they are caught using drugs or alcohol -- even once. That might be harsh, but at least that part of the plan directly links a behavior to a consequence. Random tests do not. Mandatory testing should be used only as a last resort to get people the help they need.


Schools and parents are right to stress about students using drugs or alcohol. Education about the medical effects and legal consequences of using are good ways to discourage experimentation with drugs.


Subjecting athletes to embarrassing urine drops could just discourage students from the kind of healthy activities that make it less likely that they will use alcohol, marijuana or cocaine.


The vast majority of schools rejected random drug testing after the U.S. Supreme ruled in 2002 that it was constitutional. Novi should do the same.

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