NUSP fears student drug tests may lead to ‘Oplan Tokhang’ in schools

A militant student organization blasted on Tuesday the proposed mandatory drug testing for college students, saying this may be a prelude to “Oplan Tokhang” in campuses.

“Academic freedom should not be about incriminating students. Drug testing should be non-mandatory, and it should not be a requirement for admission in schools,” said Mark Vincent D. Lim, national spokesperson of National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP).

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The Commission on Higher Education (Ched) recently issued a memorandum allowing higher educational institutions (HEI) to implement a mandatory drug testing program. It must be approved by the school’s board of trustees, directors or regents after conducting consultations with the students.

The directive allows the HEIs not to admit students who will be found positive for illegal drug use.

Lim warned that students may become “possible targets” of the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, a deadly campaign that has claimed the lives of thousands of suspected drug users and peddlers.

“We cannot allow the Duterte administration’s ‘Oplan Tokhang’ to take place in school,” he said.

The student leader urged President Rodrigo Duterte to look at drug addiction as a health problem and regard drug dependents “not as criminals but as citizens needing medical care and rehabilitation.”

“If Duterte is serious in addressing the problem of drug addiction, he should destroy the foundation of poverty by taking a step for pro-people socio-economic reforms such as providing free education, social services, jobs, and living wages,” Lim said. JPV