I have to admit I was a bit nervous about the Newark Student Drug Testing summit. The nation's most strident proponents of these suspicionless searches hail from New Jersey. However, once at the summit, their every attempt to stifle our voice made me feel even more energized to provide educators with the key information missing at these one-sided presentations.

An amazing group of people met at the Drug Policy Alliance office in New York to to get acquainted, discuss possible responses to difficult questions and practice what to will say to introduce educators to the harms of random student drug testing. We had parents, students, attorneys and those self-described as "people with a conscience."

When we arrived at the summit the ONDCP staff reassured me that they recognized me. The table they provided for us, marked "Non-ONDCP Approved Materials" was in the back corner of the room. They shut off the doors near the table to try to cut off traffic of educators entering and exiting the summit. When we stood near the coat rack to try to let educators know our materials were available, they moved the coat rack inside the summit. An ONDCP staffer broke into my conversation with two educators who eyes light up when they learned about our materials. She said we all had to move inside that moment for the speakers.

We tried to take it as a backhanded complement. They were afraid our points would resonate with educators.

David Evans, who a zealous proponent of random student drug testing spent a great deal of his time not trying to diffuse our arguments, but instead attacking and misrepresenting the position of our organization.

The ONDCP tried to carefully control the media. Reporters where escorted upstairs and in an area the Drug Czar’s staffers told were strictly off limits. Working with our media team we were able to meet with reporters outside, who were not impressed by the ONDCP’s efforts to curb free exchange of ideas.

Check out our media coverage online at: http://www.njn.net/television/webcast/njnnewstuesday.html, http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1172641467286130.xml&coll=1 ,
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0702/27/ldt.01.html

Overall it was a successful day of engaging educators and the media -- and reassuring the Drug Czar's we will be there to provide the missing information at every stop.

Look for a more detailed report on the events of the day in your Drug Policy Alliance e-news next week.