PRESS RELEASE: January 23, 2007

ONDCP Contact: Stephen E. Schatz (202) 395–5744/(202) 340–3054 Heather Janik (202) 395–6928/(202) 615–9214

WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF NATIONAL DRUG CONTROL POLICY TO HOST RANDOM STUDENT DRUG-TESTING SUMMITS

-ANNUAL MEETINGS TO BE HELD IN SOUTH CAROLINA, NEW JERSEY, HAWAII & NEVADA-

(Washington, D.C.)—Today, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) announced four regional summits to focus on random student drug testing. Random student drug testing is one of the most innovative substance abuse prevention and treatment tools available to parents and educators today.

The summit dates and locations are as follows: January 24, 2007, Charleston, South Carolina; February 27, 2007, Newark, New Jersey; March 27, 2007, Honolulu, Hawaii; and April 24, 2007, Las Vegas, Nevada. Attendees will learn about existing drug-testing programs, research, technology, funding possibilities, and legal issues related to random student drug testing. The summits will engage local communities in a productive dialogue about the dangers of youth substance use and the efficacy of developing and implementing random student drug-testing programs to prevent, intervene in, and treat youth substance abuse.

Since President George W. Bush’s 2004 State of the Union address, in which he highlighted random student drug testing as an effective part of the national drug control and prevention strategy, ONDCP has conducted over a dozen random student drug testing summits throughout the country designed to inform parents, teachers, coaches, school administrators, and community leaders on this cost-effective, legal, and locally-initiated program.

“We are successfully pushing back against youth drug use,” said Director John P. Walters. “Since 2001, there has been a 23 percent decline in youth substance use, with over 840,000 fewer students using drugs. Random student drug testing can play an important role in continuing that progress. It provides youth with a suit of armor against peer pressure, enabling them to say ‘no’ to drugs. Drug testing achieves the important public health goal of reducing, preventing, and treating student drug use before it develops into addiction.”

Nearly 1,000 schools across the United States have initiated random student drug-testing programs. A locally-based, non-punitive random student drug-testing program achieves three important public health goals: (a) it deters children from initiating drug use, (b) it identifies children who have just started using drugs so that parents and counselors can intervene early, and (c) it helps identify children who have a dependency on drugs so that they can be referred to effective drug treatment.

Please visit http://www.randomstudentdrugtesting.com/ for more information on the upcoming random student drug testing summits, and to learn more about this effective, community-based substance abuse prevention and treatment tool.