What are some of the pros and cons of drug testing in private schools?

It goes
without saying that all schools and educational facilities must provide a safe and healthy
environment for their students. In order to do so, many private and public schools have created
programs designed to help the students in various ways, offering them help, support, and
counseling and giving them a place where they can expand their knowledge and their abilities.
Some of these schools have begun to establish random drug testing with the hopes that it will
motivate the students to stay away for drugs. There are several pros and cons of drug testing in
private, as well as in public schools.

One of the main advantages of drug
testing in private schools is the fact that it gives the students a reason to refuse drugs and
makes it hard for them to bring drugs and other illegal substances in their schools, especially
if the consequences are harsher. Teenagers often start experimenting with drugs because they
were peer pressured into it, so having a drug testing program might give them an excuse to say
no, which is a way of preventing drug abuse in schools. Another advantage of drug testing is
that it can lead to an early detection of drug users and potential drug users among the
students, which means that these students will be given help and other rehabilitation options
sooner, hopefully preventing them from developing an addiction.

Most public
schools don't institute drug testing as it is rather expensive; however, this might not be an
issue for some private schools. Thus, one of the main disadvantages of drug testing in private
schools is the fact that it might result with the punishing of innocent students, as it is
fairly easy to cheat on a drug test, especially if it was not done randomly; for instance, a
student can bring someone else's urine and have negative results. The test is also somewhat
unreliable, as drug abuse cannot be detected unless the student is under the influence at the
moment the test is administered. Additionally, some students who are under certain medications
might test positive for amphetamines, even though that is not the case.