Concerns over introduction of random drug tests in schools
In what is believed to be the first such scheme in a state school, pupils in a Kent school will undergo random drug tests from Wednesday.
But, one of the UK’s leading drugs charities, DrugScope, has expressed serious reservations about the plans.
The school nurse at Abbey Walker secondary school in Faversham will be taking mouth swabs from 20 randomly selected pupils every week.
These will then be tested for cannabis, ecstasy, cocaine, speed or heroin and their parents informed of the results.
Head teacher Peter Walker said that 85 per cent of parents have given permission for their children to be tested, while some teachers have also offered to take part in the experiment.
He has insisted that pupils found to be taking drugs will not be expelled but parents will be called in to discuss the problem. Mr Walker has previously stressed that the scheme had been introduced not because the Abbey School had a specific drugs problem, but in order to be “pro-active”.
Chief executive of DrugScope Martin Barnes though said that the evidence of drug testing working is “inconclusive”.
He warned: “Testing risks driving drug use further underground and could result in an increase in truancies and exclusions.”
He stressed that the use of hard drugs among young people has fallen significantly since the 1990s, adding: “We do not accept that testing pupils as young as 11 is a proportionate response to general concerns about drug use.
“An extensive process of consultation on the Government’s school drugs guidance, published last year, showed strong opposition to testing. The guidance, whilst recognising that testing is an option, does not advocate its use.
“The headteacher of the Abbey School is proposing a sensible approach should a pupil test positive, but we have to question how the pilot will be evaluated as it is being funded by a tabloid newspaper and the manufacturer of the testing kits.”
Meanwhile, the Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said that they would accelerate drugs testing in schools.
Mr Davis said: “It is extraordinary that nearly a year after the Government sought to grab the headlines by announcing random drug-testing, we are just seeing the first scheme getting under way.
“Drugs destroy lives, destroy society and render all our efforts to reduce crime worthless. Conservatives will support, encourage and accelerate the implementation of random drug-testing in schools.”
