Cite as: 536 U. S. 822 (2002)
Ginsburg, J., dissenting
also Chandler v. Miller, 520 U. S. 305, 321 (1997) ("Von Raab must be read in its unique context").
Not only did the Vernonia and Tecumseh districts confront drug problems of distinctly different magnitudes, they also chose different solutions: Vernonia limited its policy to athletes; Tecumseh indiscriminately subjected to testing all participants in competitive extracurricular activities. Urging that "the safety interest furthered by drug testing is undoubtedly substantial for all children, athletes and nonathletes alike," ante, at 836, the Court cuts out an element essential to the Vernonia judgment. Citing medical literature on the effects of combining illicit drug use with physical exertion, the Vernonia Court emphasized that "the particular drugs screened by [Vernonia's] Policy have been demonstrated to pose substantial physical risks to athletes." 515 U. S., at 662; see also id., at 666 (Ginsburg, J., concurring) (Vernonia limited to "those seeking to engage with others in team sports"). We have since confirmed that these special risks were necessary to our decision in Vernonia. See Chandler, 520 U. S., at 317 (Vernonia "emphasized the importance of deterring drug use by schoolchildren and the risk of injury a drug-using student athlete cast on himself and those engaged with him on the playing field"); see also Ferguson v. Charleston, 532 U. S. 67, 87 (2001) (Kennedy, J., concurring) (Vernonia's policy had goal of " '[d]eterring drug use by our Nation's schoolchildren,' and particularly by student-athletes, because 'the risk of immediate physical harm to the drug user or those with whom he is playing his sport is particularly high' ") (quoting Vernonia, 515 U. S., at 661-662).
At the margins, of course, no policy of random drug testing is perfectly tailored to the harms it seeks to address. The School District cites the dangers faced by members of the band, who must "perform extremely precise routines with heavy equipment and instruments in close proximity to other students," and by Future Farmers of America, who
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