The Dangerous Drugs Board on Wednesday said drug test was not the only way to avert drug dependency among students.
DDB chairman Catalino Cuy told other law enforcement agencies that a random drug test in schools should not be a stand-alone drug prevention approach for students.
“Random drug testing, be it for secondary or primary students, is only one among the strategies that can be implemented in schools to prevent drug use among the youth,” he said.
He reacted to the proposal of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency to conduct a mandatory drug testing for teachers and students from grade four and up.
The DDB is the policy-making and strategy-formulating body in drug prevention and control.
“More than expanding the coverage of students who will have to undergo random drug testing, we feel that ensuring the implementation of other prevention programs in schools will have a better impact,” Cuy said.
The policy-making body said resources and logistics would also be a challenge if the mandatory drug test for grade four students and up was approved.
A random drug test could be implemented along with a comprehensive school-based prevention program in accordance with the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, following the guidelines in DDB Regulation No. 6, Series of 2003 as amended by Board Regulation No. 3, Series of 2009, he said.
The effort is being complemented by other initiatives in schools, such as the national drug education program and the “barkada kontra droga,” a peer-based preventive education and information program designed to enlist young people as catalysts within their peer groups in advocating healthy and drug-free lifestyles, Cuy said.
Cuy urged schools to implement programs that would build the capacity of young people to resist the lures of drugs.