EUGENE - A mandatory high school drug testing study sponsored by Oregon
Health & Science University and recently upheld by the state Court of
Appeals
has been suspended following a federal investigation.
The investigation by the Office for Human Research Protections concluded
that the $3.6 million program known as SATURN violated federal regulations
on obtaining informed consent from children. The regulations are designed
to
protect research subjects from coercive environments.
Thirteen school districts in Western Oregon are participating in the
study, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Seven are
conducting random drug testing. The others are participating, but are not
testing.
Astoria High School is suspending drug testing until the SATURN program
is reinstated, Principal Larry Lockett said Thursday. "We don't have
another
source of funding," he said. Drug testing is also being suspended at
Dallas
High School and Creswell High School.
Gary Temple, principal of Scio High School, said he is hoping for a short
suspension. "We want to finish out the rest of the study and find out
whether the program worked as it was designed to do," he said.
In an Oct. 24 letter to OHSU President Peter Kohler, the office reported
a number of concerns, including that high school principals and coaches were
used to solicit assent from students and parents; that open classroom
distribution of research surveys did not protect students from the potential
of peer pressure; that monetary and other incentives provided by the project
may have contributed to a coercive environment; that in some cases
researchers did not gain approval for changes in its protocol; and that
school personnel were not adequately trained by the research team.
The office said all of the concerns and deficiencies must be corrected
and reviewed before the study could be reinstated.
OHSU spokesman Martin Munguia said the university is working to correct
the study's problems.
"We are hoping to get a plan to them in the next two weeks," he
said. "We
have no timeline on how long a review will take. I hope it will be sooner
rather than later."
The university and the 13 participating SATURN schools are defendants in
a lawsuit filed in June on behalf of a Dallas High School student by New
Jersey lawyer Alan Milstein. The suit claims that mandatory drug testing required
in the research study violates legal and ethical requirements for voluntary
human research participants.
"It sounds as if the claims we are raising have been vindicated by the
Office for Human Research Protections, and that the goal we are after - to
protect human subjects - will be furthered by this ruling," Milstein
said
Thursday. "This is not about the constitutionality of drug testing. It
is a case
about the legitimacy of coercive informed consent and using students as
guinea pigs."
Most of the schools in the SATURN study did not have a drug testing
program in place before they were asked to participate. The SATURN study
provided schools with a model drug testing policy and paid for drug tests.
The study required that participating schools disqualify students from
athletics if they refused to undergo drug screening.
Challenges to mandatory drug testing of student athletes have been
unsuccessful. In 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the
practice.
Two weeks ago, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled against Oakridge High
School student Ginelle Weber, who was barred from playing sports because she
refused to submit to mandatory drug testing. The unanimous court found that
Oakridge
High School's mandatory drug testing policy does not violate the Oregon
Constitution's protections against unnecessary searches. Oakridge High
School is a SATURN participant.
Weber said she was ostracized by students, coaches and teachers because
of her stance against the drug testing program. The family has since moved
to
Cottage Grove, where she now attends a charter school.
Shannon Weber, Ginelle's mother, said she was delighted to hear that the
program has been suspended. "I'm smiling. I'm doing a little dance,"
she
said.
