113 drug tests at Jackson High net one instance of illicit usage

Four months and 113 tests into a random drug-testing program, one instance of inappropriate drug usage has been identified among Jackson high-schoolers.

Jackson athletic director John Martin said during a school board meeting Tuesday night the results so far bode well.

The school board approved the drug-testing program in August, requiring students in grades nine through 12 to consent in writing to random urinalysis testing as a condition of participation in extracurricular activities.

Overall, Martin said, 104 students have been tested -- nine were selected randomly twice, he said -- and five samples required further testing.

The program requires samples that test positive during the initial 12-panel dip test be sent to a laboratory for a more specific analysis.

Four of the five tests that required further testing were determined to have tested positive for medically legitimate reasons, such as a student taking prescribed medication, Martin said.

The initial tests by Cape Girardeau company Essential Benefit Offerings screen for cocaine, THC (the operant compound in marijuana), opiates, amphetamines, methamphetamine, PCP, benzodiazepines, barbiturates, methadone, oxycodone, propoxyphene and MDMA, according to a company document obtained by the Southeast Missourian.

The test, Martin said, takes about 15 minutes of class time per student on average, and administrators pull three to five students at a time while testing.

So far, 24 freshmen, 35 sophomores, 30 juniors and 15 seniors have been tested.

Parents are notified via letter after their children have been tested.

Although the policy elicited support and opposition when proposed, Martin said neither parents nor teachers have expressed discontent with testing since it began.

For a first offense, students who test positive for illicit recreational drug use are banned for 15 days from participating in extracurriculars. Repeat offenders are dealt progressively longer bans.

Martin said the policy's implementation has not effected the schools' extracurricular participation rates; the pool of students eligible for testing is just over 600.

Martin said the school will be billed for the testing at the end of the school year and did not have a figure for how much the program has cost the district.

Because the initial dip tests cost roughly $6, the lowest the program could cost would be about $2,000.

Positive results, including those because of legitimate medication usage, incur additional costs for further testing.

The district approved the plan expecting to pay from $5,000 to $6,000, Jackson superintendent John Link told the Southeast Missourian in August.

Martin said the goal is to have a school 100 percent free of illicit recreational drug use.

"We believe it is making a difference," Martin told the school board before adding his thanks.

Link said the results "say something for our students, too," and the results are "something we can be proud of."

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627