We all know schools have random drug searches… but what about random testing for nicotine?
If students are caught outside of school with nicotine, they can be banned from extra curricular activities. But, this would be the school taking it upon themselves to force kids to submit to a test before taking part in activities. (And, they’re not just talking about sports!)
One Nebraska school says vaping is an epidemic and this might be the only way to make students stop and think…
…the new policy is legal thanks to a 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld an Oklahoma school district’s policy of randomly drug testing students who participate in “competitive” extracurricular activities such as cheerleading and choir. In 1997, the Supreme Court had determined that testing high school athletes for illegal drugs was constitutional.
Fairbury Junior-Senior High School, where roughly 60 percent of the 387 students participate in after-school activities, has had a random-drug-testing system for two years. Students and their parents are required to sign a consent form agreeing to the urinalysis tests, which are randomly assigned to 10 percent of the students in extracurricular activities each month, the Journal Star reported. (
Click here to read the whole story.
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Here in North Dakota, numbers are up… Surveys of North Dakota high school students shows the use of electronic cigarettes is surging among young people.
The North Dakota Department of Health’s Youth Tobacco Survey shows the number of teens using e-cigarettes at least once in the past 30 days increased from 1.6 percent in 2011 to about 19 percent last year. The number of young people who’ve tried vaping increased from 4.5 percent in 2011 to about 39 percent in 2017.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey found 20.6 percent of North Dakota high school students use e-cigarettes.
State Tobacco Prevention and Control director Neil Charvat says kids who will never touch a regular cigarette will try vaping.
However, KFGO Twitter followers did not think random tests were a good idea:
Last year, Jamestown High School Assistant Principal John Conway fell very ill and suffered nicotine poisoning after coming in contact with vaping “juice”, which he had seized from a student.
Read the story here:
Jamestown High School Warns of ECig Dangers After Nicotine Poisoning
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(Amy Iler & JJ Gordon are talk-show hosts at 790 AM KFGO in Fargo-Moorhead. “It Takes 2 with Amy & JJ” can be heard weekdays 11am-2pm. Check out the show page on
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