DepEd, DOH to Provide Counseling to Help Student Kick Off the Addiction --Lapus

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus on Thursday said the department together with the Department of Health (DOH) will provide counseling and other assistance to high school students who will subject to the proposed random drug testing.

“I am confident that we have the legal grounds on this issue. I am confident that parents will allow their children to be subjected to random drug tests. It would be better if they knew early that their child is into drugs so that appropriate measures can be taken,” Lapus said.

“Random drug test is allowed under the Dangerous Drugs Act of 2003,” he said, adding that in the previous test conducted by the DepEd, no complaints reached the department.

Lapus added students found positive for drug use during the random drug testing will have to undergo another round of drug testing for confirmation as well as to determine the level of drug dependency or addiction.

He said that this will not be a ground for expulsion and the DOH is expected to provide counseling to help student `kick off’ the addiction.

“Our intention is not to humiliate the students. We are very strict about confidentiality," Lapus said.

Lapus also stressed that the random drug testing in school is not new and in fact provided under the Republic Act 9165 or Dangerous Drug Act.

The DepEd actually conducted a random drug test in 2003 to 2005 after study showed that drug use in six regions of the country, including the National Capital Region (NCR), increase by 10 percent.

“As a matter of fact we have been conducting random tests since 2003, but we only choose 17 schools per region then we choose students there randomly. The new directive of the President is to include all high schools,” Lapus said.

He said during the last testing, 1.3 percent of students tested were found positive of drug use in the initial tests, but only 0.8 percent tested positive in the confirmation testing.

In 2004, the DepEd, through its Health and Nutrition Center, also conducted drug testing of high school students in 17 randomly selected schools in each region to determine the prevalence of drug users among students.

Likewise, during the previous drug testing, only 30 students per school or a total of 9,000 students were subjected to the test.

DepEd Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Franklin Sunga echoed Lapus statement, saying the test will never be use to discriminate students found positive for the use of the illegal substance.

"The constitutionality of the provisions in the comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act with respect to whether it can be mandatory, mandatory testing for students and public officials, that was declared by the SC as constitutional," he said.

Sunga said what was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court was the mandatory drug testing for candidates running for public office.

Earlier, Lapus said the drug testing might be done earlier than the scheduled March date.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after naming herself as the country’s anti-illegal drug czar, ordered a mandatory drug testing among students not only in secondary level but as well as college or the tertiary level. (PNA)
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Source: Office of the President
Image Credit : www.sarangani.gov.ph