TY - JOUR T1 - Random drug testing in schools JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 499 LP - 501 VL - 55 IS - 516 AU - Clare Gerada AU - Eilish Gilvarry Y1 - 2005/07/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/55/516/499.abstract N2 - In January 2005, a school in Kent become the first state school in the UK to report the introduction of random (‘suspicionless’) drug testing. Testing is already widespread in independent boarding schools, with three-quarters of schools reported to be using some drug testing.1 There is no doubt that for governors, teachers and parents drug testing seems an attractive solution both to prevent and deal with illicit drug use among their pupils. The Kent initiative, partly funded by the News of World and supported by the testing manufacturers Altrix Healthcare plc, has been broadly welcomed, such that only a small proportion of parents have opted their children out of the scheme.2 Despite the enthusiasm from teachers and parents for testing, few empirical studies have examined the effects of drug testing in schools. With adults, an Independent Inquiry into Drug Testing at Work3 cautioned against introducing random drug testing in the workplace, concluding that it was inappropriate to drug test as a means of policing private behaviour of employees or improving productivity, except perhaps in safety-critical industries. We believe that if drug testing is not appropriate for adult employees then it should also be unacceptable to test school children.Illicit drug use is certainly prevalent among the young. In 2002–2003 the British Crime Survey4 found that 36% of 16–59-year-olds reported using one or more illicit drugs in their lifetime, 13% using Class A (cocaine, heroin) drugs. Cannabis is the most frequently reported drug with around 3 million users per year and 16–24-year-olds were the age group most likely to use illicit drugs in the past year (28%). The latest survey of school children by the Department of Health5 reported that 21% had used drugs in the past year with 12% admitting to having used in the past … ER -