Recently, a seventeen-year-old friend of mine passed away from a drug overdose, and everything became clear to me. If someone or something could have stopped her drug use before it was too late, she might still be here today.

Often it can be difficult for teenagers to understand where parents and adults are coming from when they impose certain rules. But WJ does not want students to get in trouble: in fact, the complete opposite is true. Young lives are at stake.

It seems severe and harsh, but it is a reality. Death is a very real thing to be thinking about when dealing with drugs and alcohol. In 2014, almost 12,000 teenagers died from heroin overdoses. Some may think that they will never do heroin or claim that marijuana is not a gateway drug. At the very least, it is a gateway drug into a certain kind of lifestyle, and nothing is guaranteed anymore.

At the end of the 2015-2016 school year, Mr. Lynch and Ms. Hudec called students to the Chapel and theater to learn about the new health and wellness initiative to begin in the fall. Most of us suspected something like this was going to happen after a great deal of student speculation and a few comments from adults on campus.

As students were informed of the new changes, there was one in particular that caused students to be especially upset. The issue was not with the nutritional and fitness initiatives, but instead with the revised drug and alcohol policy.

This updated drug and alcohol policy includes a new push for educating students on drugs and alcohol, as well as mandatory drug testing, with the latter causing the most uproar.

Some students felt that their privacy was being violated. “Walsh should only be involved in things that happen in school,” an anonymous senior said. It is arguable that what students do outside of school should not be punishable in school. However, the goal of the drug testing is not to punish students or get them into trouble, but students were hesitant to see things that way.

To Ms. Hudec especially, it is about saving lives and stepping in as early as possible. She offered, “If we can save one life as a result of it, then the program was a success.”

Ms. Hudec is not the only one who feels this way; a senior, who requested anonymity, stated, “Even if you can help just one student, it’s enough.” Prevention is the most important step since getting someone the help they need is essential to saving their life.

Even though students complain, I cannot disagree with the policy. If the threat of being drug tested on Monday prevents a student from drinking or using drugs and even possibly driving, then so be it. I would much rather deal with a classmate annoyed by the drug testing than attend a classmate’s funeral.