Should Middle School students be tested for drugs?

Alexandra R 

All over the world drug usage in schools is becoming a rising problem. Many students have embraced drugs out of curiosity, peer pressure, or to impress someone. Students believe that using drugs such as marijuana, cannabis, and nicotine is cool. But these drugs can end up ruining these students’ lives. Middle school students should be drug tested. 

Middle school students are becoming teenagers and they want to fit in and be labeled as cool or popular, so they can easily adopt drug use as a way of making friends. Most middle schoolers don’t know the effects that drugs like marijuana and nicotine can do to them so they start doing drugs thinking it is just a harmless game. Starting drugs at a young age can lead to addiction and people can become dependent on drugs to calm them down. 

Drug testing middle school students could help prevent problems at a young age. Authorities believe that drug testing students can be an influence for children to stop. More than 70% of middle school students who received a positive test during the first time, received a  negative during the next visits. But parents say that being drug tested could scar the child’s development and that it might affect the chances of the child getting into universities or a job.   

Drug testing middle schoolers may help prevent problems and protect the student’s life as well as their future. But it might be a better idea to involve the student’s parents in the situation. Schools should explain the reason behind these tests so that parents feel calmer about the subject. People should know that drug testing in schools is not to shame student’s confidence but to protect them.

If drug testing becomes a more frequent practice, then students will have a fear of getting caught consequently and it could keep them away from drug usage. Middle school students should be drug tested.  

Pascale G

Drug Testing in middle school is still debated by schools all over the world, and although in some cases it’s said to deter drug use, prepare students and get them the proper help if needed. I stand by the fact that middle school is just too young for drug testing. 

Students in middle school, grades 5-8, are only between 10-14 years old. They are just entering their preteens in middle school, and there is no need to expose them to to drug testing just yet. Drug testing at such a young age may help deter students from future drug use, as some studies show, but at what cost? The price of annually testing 600 students can be up to $100,000 USD. Should we really be spending this amount on drug testing students, who already have a fairly high chance if coming up clean?

One of the other reasons drug testing at this age is ineffective is because it hasn’t just been proven to be unnecessary, as shown by low percentage of students actually failing the tests. It also increases paranoia as drug testing for students this young can be stressful, and often younger grade level students feel like they’re being attacked for something they didn’t do. This overall has a negative psychological effect. They will remember this experience and in the future avoid coming to the school for help regarding these issues. 

Some schools justify drug testing by saying it is preparation for high school, but the fact is middle school students are not high schoolers. They are young kids who are nowhere near as mature or at the same risk as high schoolers. Testing should begin in high school since these students are at the most risk. Most middle school students just aren’t at an age where they want to participate in these kinds of activities.

In conclusion, drug testing should be reserved for high schoolers. Extending drug testing to middle school is just a waste of money, time, and resources.