Emma Harsin
Iron Quill

School discipline has been taken to a new level in New Jersey, where one school will be requiring alcohol screenings for all students. Pequannock Township High School will be administering these alcohol tests, which can detect liquor consumption up to 80 hours after it is consumed.

In the past, these urine screenings were mostly used on recovering alcoholics, but they are now being used on teenagers. Pequannock justifies their examinations by explaining that underage drinking and driving kills about 2,000 people under 21 every year.

While school officials say that no disciplinary action will be taken against the students, parents will be notified if their student test positive. These tests are extremely accurate, but they may be too precise. Because of high sensitivity, it is possible for urine samples to have a positive result, even if no alcohol has been consumed by the student. Consumer products such as vanilla extract, vinegar, and hand sanitizer can all be shown on the EGT test, making the result positive.

These inaccuracies obviously pose a problem with these alcohol screenings. What if a meal consists of spaghetti sauce with wine in it? Is the student going to be punished for eating food with minimal amounts of alcohol in it? Parents tend to have problems with trusting their teens, and if their child “fails” an alcohol test, it will be very difficult to gain back the trust that was deserved in the first place. On the other side of the spectrum, these imperfections make it very easy for a student to lie. The alcohol screening may correctly read positive, and the student may blame it on vinegar or a meal they recently ate. The whole system is essentially flawed, and with all of the inconsistencies, it is bound to fail.

Although these tests may help prevent minors from drinking, it ultimately takes away individual rights from students, and will most likely not change teens’ ways. Kids will drink and party if they get the chance to, and when they are eventually tested, the damage is done. They have had their fun, and the consequences will most likely be a simple grounding.

It makes no sense to me that adults have not taken any steps into preventing underage drinking, but will spend time and money trying to catch students who have been drinking. School money should be going to further help the future of America’s youth, not to punish them.

As of now, New Jersey is the only state in which these alcohol tests will be admitted. However, Salpointe Catholic High School is going to begin requiring drug tests from every student starting next fall. The drug screenings given at Salpointe will not be a urine test, but a hair strand test, which can detect drugs in the body from up to 90 days earlier. Students who test positive will meet with a counselor and will retest 100 days later. A second offense will result in additional guidance or expulsion. As to whether these tests will come into the Amphitheater district, only time will tell.