Question

Do you think that drug testing should ONLY be done for students who are in sports?  What about academic extracurricular activities? 

Answer 1

Drug testing is a broad field and requires immense statistical, clinical and research experience to be conducted. In this regard, the test product or a putative drug candidate molecule is subjected to routine intake and conseequent effects in the subjects. However, it is very important to note here that drug testing should never be done in a specific type of group of people who are indulged in a similar kind of habit/sport. This is because of following reasons:

1. The drug under test is designed to accomplish a physiological effect in the body for which the minimal deviation from normal health is required to be achieved. Hence, using subjects indulged in a similar kind of activity will tend to provide results of only one kind and the normal effects of the drug will not be obtained as the normal metabolism of these individuals will be active as compared to people not engaged in sports.
2. The possible side-effects, if any, of the drug are very likely to be suppressed in these subjects as they tend to be highly active in terms of immunity.

Hence, this states that the students/subjects involved in sports should not be used for drug testing, unless the drug is supposed to enhance the physical status of the persons involved in sports.

This holds true for persons involved in extra-curricular activities as well as academic activities.