Is Random Drug Testing Legal?

Yes, Random Drug Testing (RDT) for any student that participates in extracurricular activities is legal, supported by the Constitution of the United States. However, students that do not participate in extracurricular activities may not be tested randomly for alcohol or illicit drugs. Extracurricular activities are defined as any sport - such as lacrosse, soccer, or football - or any non-athletic endeavors sponsored by the school, such as band, choir and cheer leading.

Two legal entities have jurisdiction over RDT in New Jersey. The Supreme Court of New Jersey and the Supreme Court of the United States. You can read the New Jersey Supreme Court Decision by clicking here. You can read the 2002 U.S. Supreme Court Decision by clicking here.

U.S. Supreme Court Decision

Justice Thomas delivered the majority opinion of the SCOTUS, writing that "Because this Policy [drug testing] reasonably serves the School District's important interest in detecting and preventing drug use among its students, we hold that it is constitutional." He also wrote "In upholding the constitutionality of the Policy, we express no opinion as to its wisdom."

The dissenting opinion was written by Justice Ginsberg, who argued that students involved in non-athletic competitive activities had a higher expectation of privacy than those in athletics because those students demanded less intense supervision than student-athletes. They also cited studies that showed that students involved in extracurricular activities are significantly less likely to abuse drugs than students not as engaged. The dissenters concluded that "Tecumseh's policy thus falls short doubly if deterrence is its aim: It invades the privacy of students who need deterrence least, and risks steering students at greatest risk for substance abuse away from extracurricular involvement that potentially may palliate drug problems."

NJ Supreme Court Decision

The majority opinion of the NJ Supreme Court was delivered by Justice Verniero. He stated that "Specifically, the school's [Hunterdon Central Regional High School] substance abuse problem has been documented by survey results showing that a third of the students in the upper grades have used illegal drugs and that forty percent of students in the same grades have been intoxicated within the survey's prior twelve-month period. Those results are consistent with other data, including information regarding three deaths due to heroin overdoses........Against that record, we reject the suggestion of our dissenting colleagues that the New Jersey Constitution requires school officials to wait for the problem to worsen before addressing it in the matter sought here."

However, Justice Verniero also wrote: "We leave open the possibility that a future program will not pass constitutional muster either because the school's chosen method of specimen collection is overly intrusive in view of alternative methods, or because the underlying drug and alcohol use at the particular school simply is inadequate to justify it."

Conclusions

Both the U.S. and N.J. Supreme Courts have held that RDT of students participating in extracurricular activities is legal. The majority opinions acknowledge:

1. Additional legal tests as to the legality of drug testing may be forthcoming, particularly if schools attempt to expand RDT beyond students participating in extracurricular activities.
2. It may not make sense to randomly test for drugs as there may not be a problem in a particular school.
3. It may be overly intrusive to randomly test for drugs.

This begs the question: What kind of problem are we facing in Kinnelon? Are we at risk of students overdosing from heroin as was the case in Hunterdon? Do we have rampant drug use and children coaxed to try drugs through peer pressure? Do we have any statistics describing substance abuse by our children?

Ms. Priscilla Adams has said that binge-drinking and prescription drug use are the Kinnelon schools' largest problem. Do others use marijuana or other controlled substances? No doubt. The question then is "Does substance abuse by Kinnelon students require a policy of RDT?