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The SAR government plan to conduct drug tests in schools has aroused heated debate.

The discussion is positive. It has drawn public attention to the pressing issues of teenage drug abuse and how the community should address it.

As I see it, the question about school drug tests is not whether they should be implemented, but how.

Nobody would openly support students taking drugs, nor would anybody say that abusing drugs is a freedom or a right the citizens of a modern society should enjoy.

Nonetheless, there are people who believe that such tests would be an infringement of students' privacy. I beg to differ.

The right to privacy cannot override the law, nor can it take precedence over the greater interests of society. We can understand the absolute necessity of the tests through the example of the legislation for a smoking ban in public places.

Before passing the ban, there were myriads of opposing views. Some said smoking is a human right and a kind of personal freedom that should be protected. But the majority in society favored the ban, which was ultimately made into law.

Certainly smoking and drug abuse are two different things. The former is legal and only faces restrictions. On the other hand, the law strictly forbids taking or trafficking drugs.

Drug tests in schools are aimed at those in their teens, whose minds, when facing such temptations as drug abuse, may not be mature enough to make the right judgments. They may think of drug use as nothing more than trendy.

That is why school drug tests could serve three purposes.

First, they are an effective way to find out whether a student has taken drugs and such findings provide the basis for the school and the police to educate the youths concerned. Education is the first and foremost objective.

Second, the tests may provide a necessary deterrence. Young people who take drugs know what they are doing is against the law, but they think there is nothing the adult world, including the school management and the police, can do about it. The drug tests may exert sufficient pressure on them to keep away from drugs.

Finally, the chain effects of such tests may help combat drug abuse in society at large.

There is no doubt that the school drug test project will run into teething problems when launched and these problems may only be resolved through trial and error.

It is noteworthy that Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union, which wields widespread influence among teachers in primary and secondary schools, has said it is not opposed to the project.

That means the pilot tests have won the blessings of teachers and could proceed as scheduled.

The author is a commentator of Phoenix Satellite TV

(HK Edition 08/18/2009 page1)