High school students should be drug tested, summit told

ABC News
Oct. 31, 2005

A national drug summit in Adelaide has been told of a radical proposal to address addiction before it takes hold in teenagers.

Perth doctor George O'Neil suggests that high schools should test students for marijuana use as part of an annual health check and if they fail, they would be forced to undergo monthly tests.

Dr O'Neil says several mining companies use a similar model on their employees.

"The only punishment a school could ever give is to change from annual monitoring to monthly monitoring on the kids that were starting to be affected," Dr O'Neil said.

"But if you're being monitored once a month and you have to discuss this with your mum once a month, that's the best way to deal with the problem in the community."

Meanwhile, a former magistrate has told the summit that patients with drug-induced psychosis are clogging the mental health system.

New figures from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Council show people who use methamphetamine are 11 times more likely to suffer a psychotic episode than those who do not use the drug.

Former New South Wales magistrate Craig Thompson says authorities should be able to order drug-affected patients into rehabilitation to make them kick the habit.

"Mental hospitals are not rehabilitation centres," Mr Thompson said.

"It's now accepted that cannabis is a very addictive drug and unless it's resolved, then you can give them their anti-psychotic medication and they're straight back on the cannabis and then back in again.

"So I see that some form of treatment program that they can channel into is very necessary."