Home > Random drug testing of schoolchildren: a shot in the arm or a shot in the foot for drug prevention?

McKeganey, Neil (2005) Random drug testing of schoolchildren: a shot in the arm or a shot in the foot for drug prevention? York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

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The idea of randomly drug-testing UK schoolchildren to see if they have used illegal drugs has received supportive comments recently from both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition. This review of current literature draws together information from a range of sources to review all aspects of the issue. It considers evidence in support of drug testing, including experience in the US, where random drug-testing is commonplace. It asks whether such testing is in accordance with human rights legislation and the rights of the child. As well as ethical issues, it reviews practical questions of the feasibility of testing pupils in UK schools, as well as concerns about how such testing programmes might fundamentally alter children's experience of school.

The author finds that such programmes, whilst they might help some pupils, may harm others. He concludes that, before random drug-testing programmes are widely developed in UK schools, this initiative should be subjected to rigorous and independent evaluation.


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