Former Uniontown native fights for drug testing in schools
When Joyce Friend-Nalepka speaks to politicians, she doesn’t consider herself just an anti-drug activist. “I go as a parent. That’s how I reach people,” the Uniontown native said.
Like many parents, Nalepka was concerned about drug use in schools, so she became an anti-drug activist.
In one of her most recent and perhaps most significant efforts, Nalepka was involved in filing an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court, supporting the case Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County vs. Earls – drug testing in schools.
Lindsay Earls had filed suit after she was forced to undergo drug testing before she could participate in a choir at an Oklahoma high school, saying the school violated her Fourth Amendment rights. The high court, however, ruled in favor of the school district and in favor of drug testing in schools for children involved in extracurricular activities. Previously, the law stipulated that only student athletes could be subject to drug testing.
Nalepka thinks drug testing in schools will help prevent children from using drugs. She said it will, “give kids another reason to say ‘no.'”
Nalepka grew up in Uniontown, and although she lives in Silver Spring, Md., with her husband, Raymond Nalepka, she tries to visit Uniontown a couple times a year. Nalepka’s sister, Janet Maust, and her brother, Gary Friend, both live in Hopwood.
She said the “small-town atmosphere” in Uniontown and a large circle of friends helped her become who she is today.
“It felt very safe here. It was safe here,” she said about Uniontown when she was growing up. “Our extended family was very close. Family support is very important to kids.”
Nalepka moved away from Uniontown when she was married. She said her two sons, Kevin and Keith, are very close to their cousins in Uniontown.
“There is a disconnection,” between children and their extended families today, because their parents are often transferred for jobs, said Nalepka.
She stayed home with her children until they were old enough to attend school, and then she volunteered in the classroom where her sons were in school. When she first opened her office as an activist, she rented an empty classroom in her son’s school. This way she was able to be close to her son.
She said being an activist has affected her greatly.
“It has consumed my life,” she said.
A big part of her job as an activist is getting parents to recognize that a drug problem exists, she said.
Her job has changed because of a “well organized and well funded effort to make the public believe marijuana has medical benefits,” said Nalepka, an effort “funded by millionaires who want to legalize drugs.” She referred to activists for the legalization of marijuana as “mostly hippies.”
One way parents can try to keep their children from using drugs is to communicate with each other, she said.
“Parents whose kids are friends should communicate and call each other,” she said, “Parents have to be nailed with the primary responsibilities.”
She suggests having a “safe homes network” of parents who will not allow drug use in their homes, including alcohol and tobacco.
“It’s kind of like building an old-fashioned family or community,” she said. “It’s harder for parents today because more parents work.”
Drug testing also helps teachers and principals, said Nalepka.
“Our teachers cannot teach kids who are stoned,” she said. “You will see reduced violence in the schools,” with drug testing, she added.
Children who do not use drugs will also benefit from drug testing, she said, because they will be in “a better atmosphere.”