When it comes to the topic of randomly drug testing college students, it is easy to go either way on the subject. There are many good points backing up as to why it should be done and a lot of good reasons as to why it should not be done. I think that the schools should only be allowed to drug test students if a student acts in a manner that leads the school to believe drug use is occurring. If a student is acting out or struggling extremely with their grades, then the school should step in and evaluate the situation more intensely by using drug testing.
I choose to believe that drug testing all students would be a waste of time.
The school has too many other problems to deal with to be wasting the time and money on what it would take for them to be constantly drug testing students. When it comes down to it, everyone should be allowed to make their own decisions and mistakes. The school can also find other ways to make sure the students are healthy. Instead of using money for drug testing, they could have more food options or better showers for students living on campus.
Schools giving random drug tests before being accepted or while enrolled at the school seems a little excessive to me. A person’s ability to get good grades and learn is worth so much more than what they are doing outside of the classroom. There is more to a student than whether they use illegal substances or not. That would be unfair to the students who get good grades but use illegal substances occasionally.
This drug testing also makes the students feel judged and not trusted, which is a terrible environment to be in. Every student on campus is legally an adult, which means they are entitled to make their own decisions. The school should not have a right to interfere with the student’s personal health decisions. Students are in college to receive a better education that will help prepare them for the real world, and that is why the school should stick to helping the students fulfill that common goal. If students begin to get randomly drug tested, I believe the school should do the same with all professors. On the other side of things, I do understand and see how random drug testing would help keep a college campus safer in a sense. Students would have a higher motivation to keep clean from illegal substances in fear of being kicked out of college.
