It can result in students getting the help they need

The argument

High school athletes should be drug tested because if they are found to be using or abusing drugs, schools can then get them the proper help. Drug testing can identify these students who have started using illicit drugs and may be able to even intervene before the student’s misuse takes a turn for the worse. Moreover, testing can single out students who already have serious issues with using drugs and would benefit from certain types of counseling or treatment. The primary purpose of random drug testing is not to punish students who use drugs but to prevent drug abuse and to help students already using become drug-free. If schools find a positive drug test among any of their student-athletes, they can notify that student's parents and work directly with their parents to make sure that student gets the proper help. Alone, parents may not have the means nor resources to get the help their child needs, but in conjunction with schools, intervention may be easier to achieve. High school athletes should be drug tested in schools because it will benefit the students who need treatment and intervention.

Premises

Counter-arguments

Drug testing high school athletes may deter them from participating in sports in the first place. If schools exclusively drug testing their student-athletes and students then subsequently choose not to participate in sports then no intervention or treatment measures can occur. Drug testing policies may actually increase drug use. Students actively participating in extracurricular activities are less likely to do drugs because they do not have as much free time on their hands. A policy that drug tests students involved in sports will stop students from joining these school teams, giving these students more free time to turn to drugs. Schools cannot get student-athletes the treatment or help they need if they are deterring students from becoming student-athletes in the first place.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] A positive test identifies use, not a need for treatment, and the premise assumes the school has counselling or treatment to refer students to — the step on which the entire benefit depends. [Rejecting P2] Whether the purpose is help rather than punishment depends on what actually follows a positive result, and the counter raises the selection problem directly: testing athletes alone gives students who use drugs a reason not to play, removing them from the programme meant to reach them.