LI lawmaker wants drug tests for teens

ALBANY -- A Long Island assemblyman calls it common sense. But others might call it trampling on civil rights.

Assemb. Joseph Saladino (R-Massapequa) has introduced a bill that would require parents of high school students to drug test their children annually. Submitted to the legislature just recently, the proposal would mandate that parents administer the test and sign a statement swearing it was performed.

Parents would not have to disclose the results, even to the school. That protects the privacy of the youngster and his or her parents, Saladino said.

"The theory is that by requiring a drug test, we can be assured that parents have some information and, if there is a problem they can seek a means of receiving treatment," he said.

Many schools around the nation require drug tests for students participating in sports and other extracurricular activities. But Saladino said he was unaware of any schools that call for blanket testing of all high school students, administered by their parents.

The bill does not yet have a sponsor in the Senate. Combined with the fact that Republicans have a hard time getting bills passed in the Democrat-led Assembly, that makes Saladino's bill a long shot at this point.

Saladino said he was prodded to act by the wave of drug-related deaths of young Long Islanders, specifically Jonny Sieczkowski, 22, who died of a heroin overdose two years ago.

"It came as a request from his parents," Saladino said. "But, frankly I've been to too many wakes. Funeral directors have come to me saying they have a young person once or twice a month dying [because of drugs]. So I'm really trying to do something about it."

Sharon Sieczkowski, a Massapequa resident, said the proposal "just makes sense."

"Our family thinking on this was that it's a good idea, because as parents I believe that knowing early if your child has an addiction problem, you can help them," she said, "rather than finding out when it's too late . . . If I would have known, I would have been able to save my son."

A leading Island counselor on addiction said a mandatory test could be helpful, if limited. "A one-time test only provides a snapshot of recent use and relying on it too heavily might give parents a false sense of security," Jeffrey Reynolds, executive director of the Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, said in an email.

Still, he added, the measure could force families to tackle a subject many avoid. "If this bill becomes law," Reynolds said, "it will likely force a family conversation that doesn't always happen."

A spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union declined to comment directly on the Saladino bill but pointed out that the organization has sued to overturn high school drug testing programs in Pennsylvania and other states.

Saladino dismissed claims that the mandate would infringe on a person's civil rights or that parents would resist. "I can't imagine that good parents would push back against doing a drug test in the privacy of their own homes," he said.