Despite recent progress in combating abuse among adolescents nationwide, drug and alcohol abuse remain chronic problems. More than half of students have experimented with an illicit drug before they finish high school; one-third of 10th graders smoked marijuana in the last 12 months; and 30 percent of seniors had five or more drinks in a row in the last two weeks.

Random drug testing is an effective tool to combat this problem according to "The Effectiveness and Legality of Random Student Drug Testing Policies," authored by Joseph McKinney, Ball State's department chair of Educational Leadership.

McKinney presented the results of his study at a White House-sponsored student drug testing summit that included John Walters, U.S. drug czar, and Rod Paige, U.S. secretary of education.

"Ninety-four percent of high school principals believe that random drug testing programs discourage drug and alcohol abuse among students," McKinney said. "These programs are not intended to catch and punish students, but to deter drug and alcohol use."

More than 70 percent of the principals surveyed reported a decrease in drug usage among students who were subjected to their schools' drug testing policy when compared to a period without such testing programs.

Without testing, 85 percent of the principals reported an increase in drug usage and there were 518 students suspended or expelled for drug- or alcohol-related incidents; that figure dropped to 352 in the presence of such programs.

Nearly 90 percent of the principals also agreed that the testing also limits the effect of peer pressure by providing a legitimate reason to refuse drugs and alcohol.

Of the 65 Indiana principals selected to participate in the two-part study, 52 responded, representing a collective student body of 52,300 students.

The study covered four academic years. During that time, testing programs were halted by the Indiana Court of Appeals and then later reinstated by the Indiana Supreme Court.