In a battle of civil liberties and anti-drug fervour, students at certain schools in the UK are to face random drug tests from next term.
The move was announced by the company being contracted to supply the testing kits - Preventx.
The move has had predictable responses from predictable groups but the general argument remains the same.
Civil libertarians point out that random drug tests impinge on the rights of students and also use the fact that drug use among teenagers has significantly decreased since the 1990s. They also point out that testing may result in increased rates of truancy among students not wishing to be tested (or caught).
Supporters of the scheme point to the case of a school in Kent whose GCSE scores leapt last year - they say as a result of the school implementing random drug testing on students.
Popularity whore Prime Minister Tony Blair has given support to random drug testing schemes in state schools as a way of tackling the drug problem. Would it be too much to suggest that putting that money into actual education might also result in increased GSCE scores?
