Riverside Students Volunteer For Drug Testing

Between 150 and 200 students at Riverside High School are undergoing voluntary drug tests this week.

Some members of Riverside’s athletic teams and National Honor Society participated in the tests, said Terrie Austin, the Riverside School District director of drug abuse prevention programs.

Austin said the program is designed to give recognition to students who are not using drugs.

A small group of Riverside football players approached school officials about the program in the spring. Austin said some players knew the “athletic code” - a contract signed by athletes who promise to refrain from using drugs and alcohol while participating in sports - was being violated.

“There was a frustration among the students who did not use at those they knew who did,” Austin said.

“The players felt this was a way that they and other students who don’t use drugs could be rewarded.”

Students who test negative will receive picture identification cards from the Washington Drug-Free Youth Program, which will enable them to get discounts on consumer goods from businesses participating in the program, she said.

Only 150 to 200 students will be tested to start the program. More participants will be added when the first tests are completed.

No student can be tested without signed consent from a parent or guardian.

Students volunteering for the program are randomly selected and aren’t told what day they will be tested. Test results are confidential, she said.

Deaconess and Sacred Heart medical centers, Holy Family Hospital and the Valley Hospital and Medical Center have donated drug tests to the school, Austin said.

Riverside school officials will get a helping hand in administering the tests from parent volunteers who were trained by drug-free youth program coordinators.

Athletes who fail the test are kicked off the team and lose their discount cards, Austin said. They also are required to take an eight-hour drug intervention course under the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association rules.

Non-athletes failing the test lose the privileges of their discount cards for 30 days, according to the rules of the program. After 30 days, a student can retest to regain eligibility, Austin said.

Austin said she would not have asked for drug testing without the support of the students and parents.

“I honestly thought there would be more opposition to this from parents and students,” she said. “So far that hasn’t been the case.

“There have actually been more students and parents who have asked for mandatory testing,” Austin said.

Linda Thompson, the executive director of the Greater Spokane Substance Abuse Council, which oversees the drug-free youth program, said some students and parents have expressed concern about potentially damaging the reputations of those kids not participating in the program.

“We constantly stress that this is a voluntary club,” Thompson said. “This is not at all intended to be punitive.”

Thompson said the drug-free discounts are good at Valley Bowl, The Comic Shop, TCBY Yogurt, Pizza Pipeline, McDonald’s, Subway Sandwiches at the Newport Highway, Waffles Plus, Aesthetics Salon and Dave’s Muffler Shop.

Thompson acknowledged that it has been difficult to get more merchants signed on to the program.

“So many are already supporting other things. We’re doing a merchant drive right now, and it has been really difficult,” she said.

Still, Thompson believes the program is worth the effort.

“Kids are realizing that with the economical issues and other pressures on adults, they’re going to have to be the one to help turn this thing around.

“They’re saying, ‘Let’s test and show that we’re drug-free,”’ Thompson said. “The hope is to make being drug free fashionable.”

, DataTimes