Random Drug Tests May Not Deter High School Students from Drugs

A double-bind study of random drug testing among high school athletes surprised researchers by finding that such testing did not necessarily deter drug use.

Dr. Linn Goldberg and his colleagues at the Oregon Health & Science University studied six Oregon high schools that perform random drug tests and five that do not over a two-year period. Athletes in the first group who tested positive for drugs had to attend counseling, and their parents were notified. Students in both groups filled out detailed questionnaires for researchers.

Athletes at schools without drug and alcohol testing were more likely to believe that drug testing was effective, more likely to feel athletically competent, and more likely to believe that their school authorities opposed to drug use compared to those at the schools that had the random drug tests.

"We were shocked by these results," Dr. Goldberg said.

The study appears in the November issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, the journal of the Society for Adolescent Medicine.

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