NJ schools will test students’ urine for weekend drinking

Via the AP:

PEQUANNOCK, N.J. β€” Teens who drink alcohol could be caught three days later under a high school’s new testing policy for students.

The test, which will be given randomly to students at Pequannock Township High School, can detect whether alcohol was consumed up to 80 hours earlier. The legal drinking age in the United States is 21.

Other districts already use the test. Middletown began using it last spring for students suspected of using drugs and alcohol. This month, the district expanded it to include a random pool of about 1,800 students.

Pequannock Superintendent Larrie Reynolds said the policy approved last week should be a deterrent to students who feel peer pressure to drink.

Under the program, students who test positive will not be kicked off teams or barred from extracurricular activities, Reynolds said. Instead, they will receive counseling β€” and their parents will be notified.

The ACLU of NJ isn’t too happy about this:

Critics have said the testing does not work and invades students’ privacy.

“Medical care and treatment are issues between parents and children,” said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey.

That line of thinking on the part of the ACLU-NJ apparently doesn’t extend to minors regarding abortion, though, natch.

(AP link via Best of the Web)

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