Did You Know That?

Students at the Delaware Valley School District in Pennsylvania have won an appeal of a case in which they sued the school district, claiming that its drug testing policy violated their privacy rights. The plan requires that all middle and high school students who want to play sports, participate in extracurricular activities, or park an automobile on school premises submit to an alcohol and drug test. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, affirming a lower court's ruling, found that the school must prove that the need for drug testing outweighs the privacy rights of students. In this case, the school did not provide evidence that the drug testing was needed. (Theodore v. Delaware Valley School District, Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, No. J-97-2004, 2004)

In a recent Federal employees and applicants for certain jobs in the government may be asked to provide sweat, saliva, and hair for drug testing. A new rule proposed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would allow testing of sweat, saliva, and hair for signs of drug use. The rule has been proposed, according to the agency, to allow for more accurate testing, because urine tests can be circumvented.