Drug tests in public HS to start next year

CEBU, Philippines - The Cebu City Office for Substance Abuse Prevention (COSAP) will start conducting random drug tests in public high schools early next year.

“Actually ang purpose gyud ana is not just to know what school or who is using but ang main purpose is to conduct early intervention, kay og madugayan dili siya mada lang og maymay imo gyud siya isud og rehabilitation center and it entails a lot of money,” said COSAP chief Alice Utlang.

 Article 3 section 36 (c) of Republic Act 9165 known as the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002” states that “students of secondary and tertiary schools shall, pursuant to the related rules and regulations as contained in the school’s student handbook and with notice to the parents, undergo a random drug testing: Provided, That all drug testing expenses whether in public or private schools under this Section will be borne by the government.”

 Utlang disclosed that public high school students who will be found positive of illegal drug use shall be evaluated on what stage they are in terms of usage.

 She explained that the usage of illegal drugs has four stages: first is peer pressure, second is occasional use, third is drug addiction and the fourth is drug dependency.

 Utlang said the city government’s free outpatient rehabilitation program is only for the first and second stages while for the third and fourth stages, the drug user must be admitted to a rehabilitation center. Utlang said the city government has no free rehabilitation center.

Further, Utlang said they made consultations on the random drug testing in six schools in the city and so far, all the parents have agreed on the move. 

“Agree gyud sila kay dili man everyday nagsunod-sunod sila sa ilang mga anak,” Utlang told The Freeman.

 She assured that names of those who will be found positive will be held confidential and only the parents will know about it.

 She said based on their records, marijuana is the number one on the list of illegal drugs commonly used by students.

 According to Utlang, they are willing to conduct a random drug test to elementary students if it is needed. 

 Meanwhile, the Department of Health-7 revealed that majority of drug dependents in the region are male.

 DOH-7’s program researcher Myrna Nuñez, in the recent Association of Government Information Officers-7  Forum, said that there are more male drug dependents than women in Central Visayas.

 Nuñez said that based on their research, male individuals use drugs because of curiosity at first.

 According to a report published by Philippine Information Agency on its website, there are only two government drug rehabilitation facilities in Cebu.

One is in Eversley Childs Sanitarium in Jagobiao, Mandaue City where female drug dependents are sent. At present, there are 23 drug dependents there while male drug users are in Argao Rehabilitation Center. There are reportedly 150 drug dependents in the said facility.

The 2013 statistics of the Dangerous Drugs Board showed that in the entire country, there were 3,266 drug dependents admitted in various rehabilitation centers, 2,618 of them are first timers. At least 446 were re-admitted while 202 had sought treatment.

 Out of the 3,266, 92.68 percent were male while 7.32 percent were female of different age groups. (FREEMAN)