The Scotsman report that they expect the ACMD to come out against drug testing in schools in a report that will be published tomorrow:
The Scotsman has learned that the government’s drug advisory panel will tomorrow recommend that drug-testing in schools be abandoned because of ethical concerns and a lack of evidence that they actually reduce drug misuse.It is understood the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) has a number of concerns about drug-testing in schools, including whether pupils should be forced to give samples, whether parents should be consulted on the results, how often pupils should be tested and the possibility of “false positive” results triggered by a child’s medication.
They also quote Professor Neil McKeganey, author of this report on drug testing in schools, as saying:
“People say it’s unethical, but if testing proves to be effective, we should ask ourselves whether it then becomes acceptable. If we are to have success in tackling drug abuse in Scotland, we need to be bold enough to explore initiatives that are unpopular.“There is no good reason to ignore it – we should see if it works. The same goes for bringing reformed drug addicts into school to talk to pupils.”
Further information from the BBC:
The Scottish Executive has insisted that it has no plans to introduce random drug testing into schools.
The assertion came after the Headteachers’ Association of Scotland (HAS) backed calls from a drugs expert to introduce random checks. [more]
Filed under: ACMD, Scotland, random drug testing
