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Article
02 - Drug
Testing's Negative
Results
Convinced by shaky economic data and appeals
to civic virtue, employers have long allowed
themselves to be persuaded that testing
employees for drug use is the right thing to
do. Now, after hard looks at budget and some
long-simmering issues about trust and
efficacy, they're not so sure.
more...
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Article 03 -
Seeing Is Believing: Teens' Parents Could
Soon Use Eye-Scan Drug Test
The Eyes
Don't Lie. So say several local substance
abuse counselors who want to bring a new type
of drug testing machine to Martin County.
They say the cutting-edge computer technology
-- which scans the human eye to detect drug
use -- could help local parents seeking more
effective ways to prevent their children from
turning to drugs.
more...
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Article
04 -
Thief Makes off with Lots of
Urine
Athens
City Police are investigating a daring urine
heist that took place sometime last Thursday
night or Friday morning.
According
to an incident report, sometime between 9
p.m. Thursday and 7 a.m. Friday, someone
broke into the offices of the Ohio Adult
Parole Authority on East State Street by
forcing the door open. An office in the
building was ransacked.
more...
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Article
05 -
Australia: Airline Staff Sign Drug
Petition
Qantas
management has been handed a petition signed
by nearly 9000 employees opposing random drug
testing.
An
industrial court hearing into a dispute over
a Qantas plan to introduce random breath and
urine tests was adjourned until September 9
yesterday to allow for further negotiations.
more...
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Article 06 - Drug
testing in schools: Can it Cause
Harm?
Many
schools and districts are performing drug
tests or are considering drug screens for
students entering competitive sports, other
physical extracurricular activities such as
school band and cheerleading, and non-active,
extracurricular activities such as chess club
or the debate team. A recent U.S. Supreme
Court ruling permits this to occur. Local
school districts need not adopt this
practice, however, and states are still
permitted to disallow this practice to
protect individual rights within the state's
constitution.
more...
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Article 07 -
Keeping kids off drugs Pragmatism vs. zero
tolerance -- Let science be the
guide
The
emotionally charged issue of keeping
teenagers off drugs has prompted a variety of
programs and policies. The problem is that we
don't know whether they work.
more...
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Article
08 -
What an amazing scientific
study
The
people forcing Oregon
teenagers
to participate in drug research published
their early data this week, and the results
were hardly shocking: A school that randomly
demands urine samples from students appears
to have a lower rate of drug use than a
school that doesn't.
more...
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Article
09 -
Urine -- or You're Out
Drug
testing is invasive, insulting, and generally
irrelevant to job performance. Why do so many
companies insist on it?
more...
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Article
10 -
This nose for hire
Parents
who suspect their teenager is dabbling in
drugs now have an alternative to snooping
through drawers and closets looking for a
hidden stash of dope. They can hire a
drug-sniffing dog to do it for them.
more...
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Article
11 -
Retired Lawyer Tackles The Law On Driving
Under Influence Of Drugs
Rick
Reimer
was a prominent criminal lawyer in Pembroke.
Then he was diagnosed with multiple
sclerosis. Mr. Reimer uses marijuana daily to
cope with the effects of his illness and
intends to use an impaired driving charge to
scrutinize the law's approach toward
marijuana and its impacts on life.
more...
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Article
12 -
Ohio Supreme Court Backs Workers in Workers'
Comp Drug Test Ruling
On a 4-3
vote, the Ohio Supreme Court has struck down
a state law that said people seeking workers'
compensation benefits must prove that drugs
or alcohol found in their systems did not
cause their injury. Prior to the law, enacted
in 2000, employers had to prove that drugs or
alcohol caused the injuries if they wanted to
contest worker's comp claims. The 2000 law
also mandated that workers who refused to
take drug tests would be considered to have
tested positive.
more...
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Article 13 -
'Go' pills for F-16 pilots get close look:
Amphetamines prescribed in mission that
killed Canadians
The Air
Force calls them "go" pills, and that is what
they do: keep pilots going in the air long
after their tired minds and bodies would have
preferred to fall asleep.
The
stimulants have been used by airmen since
World War II, and were doled out by the
thousands in the Persian Gulf War and
Afghanistan. But the practice is coming under
new scrutiny in the investigation of two F-16
pilots who were taking Air Force-provided
amphetamines when they mistook a midnight
training exercise for hostile fire and bombed
a gathering of Canadian soldiers.
more...
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Article
14 -
It's not about public
safety
National
shyster-in-chief (aka "drug czar") John
Walters has done it again. Walters' "drugged
driving" initiative calls for "zero
tolerance" for driving under the influence.
"It's about public safety," Walters
claims.
Not only is the initiative not about public
safety. It's not even about driving while
drugged.
more...
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Article
15-
DPA Campaign Provides Tools to Fight School
Drug Testing
Reacting
to the June Supreme Court decision allowing
school drug testing of any students involved
in athletics or other extracurricular
activities (even including driving one's own
vehicle to school), the Drug Policy Alliance
announced this week a new campaign to provide
tools for students, parents, teachers and
administrators to find better, less
intrusive, alternatives to making children
and young people urinate in a cup.
more...
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Article
16 -
Cruising on Cannabis: Putting the Breaks on
Doped Driving
Misconceptions
Policy
debates regarding marijuana-law reform,
including those involving the legalization of
medicinal cannabis, invariably beg the
question: "What about marijuana and driving?"
The concern is a valid one. In fact, NORML's
own "Principles of Responsible Cannabis Use"
invoke a "no driving" clause, stating:
"Although cannabis is said by most experts to
be safer than alcohol and many prescription
drugs with motorists, responsible cannabis
consumers never operate motor vehicles in an
impaired condition."
more...
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Article
17 -
Controversial Drug Testing Study Yields
Mixed Results
A drug
testing research project that inspired a
class action lawsuit has yielded mixed
results. The controversial study was
conducted at two public high schools in
Oregon during the 1999-2000 school year by
researchers at Oregon Health & Science
University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon, and
was funded by the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (NIDA). The study was suspended by the
federal Office for Human Research Protection
last October over concerns regarding how the
questionnaires were handled in classrooms,
the randomization of schools and researchers'
involvement in the drug-testing procedure.
more...
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Article 18 - Columbia
president urges drug testing
Colombia's
president proposed a new front in the global
war on drugs: mass drug testing for Americans
and Europeans. Reviving the traditional
conflict between drug-producing and
drug-consuming nations, President Alvaro
Uribe said Friday the tests would dry up
demand for drugs that Colombian insurgents
sell to finance their decades-old civil war.
more...
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Article
19 -
Brit MP Calls for Drug Testing 10-Year-Olds,
Comments Came in Debate Over Criminal Justice
Bill
The
British Labor government's effort to remake
the criminal justice system in its pending
Criminal Justice Bill is sparking demands for
an ever tougher approach to juvenile crime.
On December 17, Tory Member of Parliament
Graham Allen one-upped everybody by calling
for the drug testing of children as young as
10 by police.
more...
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Article
20 -
Binge drinking on the rise
I've
been watching the growing use of mandatory
random drug testing in our nation and what I
feared is coming true. From my 20 years
experience in conducting drug testing I can
honestly share that cannabis is the one
persistent long half life drug that can be
found in random testing while alcohol is
terribly difficult to detect.
more...
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Article
21 -
Bay area schools say no to drug
testing
The
Dublin school board opposed a drug-testing
program for middle and high school students
involved in extracurricular activities. Many
students and parents argued against the
program, some stating the program would be
unconstitutional.
more...
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Article
22 -
Schools targeted by drug
testers
Decisions
about how school districts deal with drugs on
campus soon could be influenced more by
marketing and less by need.
more...
> Top of Page <
Article
23 -
Santa Drug Tested
The
jolly man in the red suit is a popular
fixture at local shopping malls this time of
the year. And chances are good that before
Santa Claus hears one Christmas wish, he's
undergone a criminal background check and
drug testing.
more...
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Article
24 -
Paramedic fights city drug-test
standard
Since he
was a teenager, David Hughes had his heart
set on becoming a Chicago paramedic and was
within days of graduating from the Fire
Department's academy when his long-held dream
was blown apart by what he contends was a
bagel.
more...
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Article
25 -
Nursing home residents test positive for
marijuana
Follow-up
tests suggest residents at the Claiborne
County Hospital and Nursing Home suffered
from a bad drug test rather than bad drugs,
officials said. Local and state police were
notified last week when one of the nursing
home's patients tested positive for marijuana
in the hospital emergency room.
more...
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Article
26 -
NORML Reiterates Stance Against Driving While
Impaired By Pot; Questions Feds' Proposed
Crackdown On "Drugged
Driving"
This
plan advocated by the Drug Czar would result
in the unfair arrest of tens of thousands of
unimpaired motorists each year...more...
> Top of Page <
Article 27 -
Hazelden Survey Reveals U.S. Employees Fear
Loss of Job if They Seek Drug, Alcohol
Treatment
Although
Americans expect that their employer's health
insurance will cover alcohol or drug
addiction treatment, more than one in five
insured employees believe that if they sought
coverage for that treatment, they would face
negative consequences at work.
more...
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Article 28 -
Court of Appeals Upholds Drug Tests For
Michigan Welfare Recipients
Court of
Appeals for the 6th Circuit held unanimously
that a Michigan law that would subject
welfare recipients to random drug testing as
a condition of receiving benefits is
justified by the state's interest in
preventing drug-related child abuse and other
crimes.
more...
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Article
29 - Length of
Detection for THC
Most of
these patients have also used cannabis but
less frequently than their primary drug.
These occasional cannabis users should also
test negative for cannabis within 30 days or
so.
more...
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Article
30 -
Michigan Welfare Recipients to Get Drug
Test
A
federal appeals court Friday cleared the way
for Michigan to test welfare recipients for
drug use.
U.S.
District Court Judge Victoria Roberts halted
a pilot drug-testing program in 1999 after a
group of welfare recipients and the American
Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) of
Michigan argued that the testing is
unconstitutional.
more...
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Article
31 -
4th
Circuit Strikes Down Drug Testing of Pregnant
Women
I am
very pleased to let you know that
reproductive rights, drug policy reform and
patients rights advocates have had an
important victory in the 4th Circuit remand
in the Ferguson case. In the only case heard
by the U.S. Supreme Court to touch directly
on the issue of prosecution of pregnant,
drug-using women, the Court held that a
hospital's "performance of a diagnostic test
[urine drug screens] to obtain evidence of a
patient's criminal conduct for law
enforcement purposes is an unreasonable
search [unconstitutional] if the patient has
not consented to the procedure."
more...
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Article
32 -
The hemp food issue
Hemp
Food has been around for millennia. It is
nutritious & contains the three Omega
Fatty Acids 3, 6 & 9, which are essential
to good health and your body doesn't produce
them in an amount neccessary for good health
so they are a valuable supplement to your
diet. I'm talking about Hemp Seed Oil, Hemp
Seed Nuts. The Oil tastes like Cod Liver Oil.
Yuk. It's good for you though. Makes your
feet soft and you can tell it's doing
something good for your body.
more...
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Article
33 -
Snacks can make people obese and high-wired.
But get them fired?
Snacks
can make people obese and high-wired. But get
them fired? A U.S. Border Patrol agent
dismissed from his job earlier this year
after testing positive for drugs is blaming a
San Diego-based manufacturer of hemp bars for
his downfall. Michael Baranic, a San Diego
attorney representing the fired agent, said
his client's troubles started last year after
he ate Govinda's Fitness Foods hemp bars just
before a random drug test.
more...
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Article
34 -
Employee fired for medical pot use sues
firm
In what
may be a first since California voters passed
the medicinal marijuana law six years ago, a
Sacramento man is suing his former employer
for firing him because he uses
doctor-prescribed pot for a disabling back
condition.
more...
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Article 35 -
Tests on Trial - - Jobs and Reputations Ride
on Unproven Drug Screens
Drug
tests don't lie, people do. That's what
Michelle Dunson used to think back when she
administered urine tests for a temp agency
near Toledo, Ohio. Sometimes when she told
applicants they'd failed, the response would
be wide-eyed silence, then tears and denial.
She offered them tissue, but little
sympathy.
Dunson
later took a job with Whirlpool, where she
was injured two years ago. When she returned,
she tested positive for an opiate and was
fired-even though a note from her doctor
outlined her prescriptions for a non-narcotic
painkiller, which she believes threw off the
test. She has a wrongful-termination suit
pending against Whirlpool, which stands by
its testing. "I feel tremendous guilt now
when I think of those who came to me nearly
hysterical, saying they did not do drugs,"
says Dunson. "I think: My God, at least a few
of them were probably telling the truth."
more...
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Article
36 -
An authoritarian ideal: Drug control is
social control
Fear and
hate are the cornerstones of the war on
drugs. We are taught to hate drug users and
fear that we are too weak to resist the power
of drugs. Prohibitionists harness negative
emotions about drugs to create an elaborate
system of social control. As we have seen,
any atrocity can be justified by the drug
war. However, we generally just imagine the
atrocities could never happen to us, since
our fear has kept us away from illegal drugs.
The fear has been so expertly promoted that
many Americans have been willing to forego
certain constitutional rights and civil
liberties, while simultaneously ceding more
power to government officials and other drug
war profiteers. The institutions trying to
control the masses also recognize the utility
of the drug war as social control. Since drug
use frequently does not show outwardly, the
drug war is an excuse to invade the private
life of the individual. Everyone is a
suspect. In order to see who really is and
who really isn't a drug user, surveillance is
necessary. Urinalysis in the workplace is an
excellent example. Drug testing is sold as a
safety procedure, but is really quite a bit
more. Not only is it a process which demeans
the employee while demonstrating the great
power of the employer, drug testing gives the
employer a glimpse into the employee's
medical life, and the process asserts the
employer's right to regulate behavior outside
the workplace. Drug fear offers employers a
broad justification to exert additional
control over their employees. As we have
seen, the additional control offered to
government is even more invasive and
overwhelming.
more...
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Article
37 -
Hooked on rehab: Relieving anguish until the
insurance runs out
Some
drug testing companies are integrated with
rehab services, so the companies can identify
clients for a profit, and then treat them for
a profit. In 1991 more than $4 billion in
funding was made available through government
and private resources for treatment, which
includes treatment for legal habits, as well
as illegal drugs. More than half of that
money comes from government sources. Some
observers state that half of the people who
receive treatment do so unwillingly. Again,
average citizens are asked to ante up, as
much rehab is paid for by tax dollars and
insurance premiums.
Treatment
on demand is a good idea. When people think
they need a service like that, they should
have access to it. However, coercion is
coercion and no one should be forced into
such an experience.
more...
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Article 38 -
Drug testing alchemy: A river of urine turns
to gold
Several
businesses have exploded solely because of
the war on drugs. While these businesses
might exist without the war on drugs, the
battle has been an enormous boost to
profits.
Take the
drug testing industry, which only a few years
ago was a distasteful oddity, has become an
amazing growth market poised for more
profits. Figures from 1990 indicate the gross
profit from drug testing was about $300
million. Since then, the range of citizens
undergoing tests has continued to explode.
With increased testing in businesses and
schools, along with the introduction of home
drug tests marketed to parents, estimates
that now place the annual profits of the drug
testing industry at $1 billion a year do not
seem outrageous.
more...
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Article
39 -
Getting the business from business: Employers
demand bodily fluids
One
might think that looking for a job should not
be a cause for harassment by drug warriors,
but as too many employees already know, it
is. More Americans than ever are subjected to
the invasive, embarrassing and unnecessary
process of urine collection for drug testing
every year.
False
positive test results are possible. Even when
a false positive is corrected, it may have
already damaged an employee's reputation.
more...
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Article 40 -
Pentagon's battle to keep illicit drugs out
of the barracks and off warships has
faltered
The
Pentagon's battle to keep illicit drugs out
of the barracks and off warships has faltered
during the past few years as more servicemen
and women have failed drug tests and been
discharged. Drug use has increased after a
20-year decline, and 17,000 people have been
kicked out of the Navy, Army, Air Force and
Marine Corps since 1999, according to
statistics compiled by The San Diego
Union-Tribune.
Some
critics worry that a higher incidence of
substance abuse may weaken preparedness in a
military at war. The Pentagon argues that its
drug problem remains small compared with the
civilian world.
Yet
military authorities acknowledge that
repeated warnings about the penalties for
drug use - and frequent random testing - are
failing to deter some troops.
Making
things tougher, illegal substances are easily
available in San Diego County, where military
and civilian youths commonly mingle at
parties and there are the enticements of an
international border.
more...
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Article 41 - Pissing Away Our
Rights
By John
Masterson
Thank
you, Jed Gottlieb, for your "Pee to Play"
article on the recent Supreme Court ruling
approving "urinate on demand" testing for
high school students. The broad application
of suspicionless drug testing does not bode
well for a free society.
more...
> Top of Page <
Article
42 -
Alabama Rape Victim Ordered to Provide Urine
Sample for Drug Test
A
Saraland, Alabama, woman who filed a rape
complaint after a 4th of July date turned
ugly was ordered to provide a urine sample
for a drug test in Mobile County District
Court on July 9. The order came after Judge
Delano Palughi ruled favorably on a defense
motion asking the court to force the accuser
to submit to a drug test. Defense
attorney Rick
Yelverton,
representing 26-year-old Emanuel DeWitt,
implied that the woman could have been under
the influence of drugs at the time of the
alleged rape. Yelverton argued that if the
woman was on drugs when the incident
occurred, the test results could go "to her
character and to her ability to recall what
happened that night."
more...
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Article 43 -
Despite Supreme Court Ruling, No Wave of High
School Drug Testing Foreseen
When the
Supreme Court ruled in June in Earls v.
Tecumseh that local school districts could
constitutionally drug test students involved
in extracurricular activities, the drug
testing industry, some congressional drug
warriors, and at least one well-known
political hired gun got excited. But a round
of interviews conducted by DRCNet this week
suggests that school districts are not about
to embark on a headlong rush into student
drug testing despite the high court's green
light.
more...
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Article 44 -
Ignoring Expert Advice, Supreme Court Expands
School Drug Testing of
Students
Thursday,
June 27, 2002 - NEW YORK - The Supreme Court
today narrowly upheld school drug testing of
students involved in extracurricular
activities, a decision the American Civil
Liberties Union said will only set up more
barriers to keeping children off
drugs.
"Every
available study demonstrates that the single
best way to prevent drug use among students
is to engage them in extra-curricular
activities," said Graham Boyd, Director of
the ACLU's Drug Policy Litigation Project,
who argued the case before the Justices in
March.
"The
Court has now endorsed school policies
setting up barriers to these positive
activities, which is dangerous both for the
Constitution and safety of America's
children," Boyd said.
The ACLU
said the ruling also sounds an ominous note
for the future of privacy in America.
more...
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Article 45 -
Random Workplace Drug Testing Struck Down By
Canadian Human Rights
Commission
Random
and pre-employment drug testing of public
employees is a human rights violation and not
allowed under the Canadian Human Rights Act,
the federal Canadian Human Rights Commission
announced this week. Their decision strikes
down suspicionless drug testing policies for
federally regulated workers, such as bank
employees and airline pilots.
"Positive
drug tests simply confirm an individual's
previous exposure to drugs, not whether the
person is capable of performing the essential
requirements of their job," the CHRC stated
in a press release. The Canadian Human Rights
Act prohibits discrimination based upon
disability or perceived disability, and drug
and alcohol dependency are considered
disabilities under the law.
more...
> Top of Page <
Article
46 -
Police to Test Face
Software
Fri Jul
5, 9:53 AM ET
By SONJA BARISIC, Associated Press
Writer
VIRGINIA
BEACH, Va. (AP) - If you're a criminal, a
runaway or a terrorist, a day at the beach
here may soon be anything but
that.
The city
will become the second in the nation - Tampa,
Fla., is the other - to employ
facial-recognition software to assist police
in identifying and catching criminals and
missing persons.
more...
> Top of Page <
Article
47 -
More Harm Than Good
The ACLU
is at the forefront of the fight to stop
unconstitutional drug testing of students.
"First, schools wanted to test student
athletes, then it was students in
extracurricular activities, and now it's
students competing in quiz bowls and
performing in choir -- where does it end?"
said Graham Boyd, Director of the ACLU's Drug
Policy Litigation Project and lead counsel
for the students in Board of Education County
v. Earls. "The district's drug testing policy
is more about symbolism than substance," he
added. "Tecumseh officials initiated urine
testing without any evidence of a drug
problem at the school and at a time when
government reports show that teen drug use is
on the decline nationally."
more...
> Top of Page <
Article
48 -
Ralph's Corner
Dear
Ralph:
I
recently heard about the study done by Dr.
Robert J. Melamede, Chairman, Biology
Department, University of Colorado. According
to his study, it has been proven that our
bodies naturally produces cannabinoids in the
form of Anandamide, which makes us smarter,
and that it is even present in mothers' milk
to give babies the munchies.
My
question is: Concerning drug testing and
Anandamide, does or could Anandamide show a
positive for cannabis or marijuana use? I
understand Aspirin aligns itself with
Anandamides to alleviate pain etc. I now know
that our bodies internally produce
Anandamides, marijuana & cannabinoids. If
our bodies produce this illegal substance,
could it not show up in our urine?
more...
> Top of Page <
Article
49 -
Drug Test Bribes
By Mark
Harrison
Pee in a cup for officials at Matthews High
School in Virginia and receive a free parking
pass worth $25 and free admission to all
school events. The compelling offer to
students is known as voluntary drug testing,
according to the "Daily Press". Students who
allow administrators to violate their privacy
in this manner may also be allowed to miss
four days of school instead of three and
still be able to take final exams. To further
entice students to forget what they learned
in civics class about the significance of the
U. S. Constitution, free tickets to local
attractions such as Busch Gardens are being
considered. You know, Busch, as in
Anheuser-Busch, Inc., makers of Budweiser
Beer, that Superbowl drug that wasn't
responsible for the attacks on the Pentagon
and the World Trade Center.
more...
> Top of Page <
Article 50 - Modoc
Backs Down On Drug Tests For
Teens
As a
pivotal case on drug testing in schools went
before the U. S. Supreme Court this session,
the Modoc Joint Unified School District was
attracting attention with a proposal of its
own. Going one step further than the drug
tests for students involved in
extracurricular activities at issue in
Pottawatomie County v. Earl, Modoc's policy
proposed mandatory random drug and alcohol
tests for all students in grades 9 - 12. Any
student who refused to take the test or who
tested positive would be barred from
extracurricular activities.
Then the
Drug Policy Alliance and the ACLU-NC stepped
in. On the evening that the board of trustees
was set to consider the proposal, the two
organizations sent a powerful letter arguing
that the drug tests policy would do more harm
than good.
more...
> Top of Page <
Article
51 -
A Look At The Historical Legal Basis For
Urine Testing
NORML
Report by Paul Armentano, NORML Publications
Director and Donna Shea, NORML Foundation
Legal Director
Seemingly
turning its back to the United States
Constitution, years of precedent, the most
inherent civil liberties, and a nation that
prides itself on the virtues of limited
government, in June 1995 the Supreme Court
ruled in favor of a Vernonia, Washington
School District law mandating drug tests for
all secondary school athletes regardless of
reasonable suspicion. While Justice Antonin
Scalia's majority opinion of the Court notes
that this decision will not serve as a
slippery slope toward the eventual mass
testing of all students, the tragic irony of
this case is that this latest decision is --
in itself -- the end result of just such a
downward spiral.
more...
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Article 52 -
An Open Letter to Those People Who Believe In
The Benefits of Drug Testing
I am
completely aligned with you that we should
provide a safe environment in the workplace
and be protected from dangers presented from
impairment. I do not agree, however, that
violating our constitutional rights under the
guise of accomplishing these goals is
reasonable.
Studies
show that the validity of drug testing is
surrounded by doubt. The American Medical
Association, The Center for Disease Control,
The National Academy of Sciences and the
National Institute of Drug Abuse are among
some of the groups who have done studies
which have determined the unreliability of
drug testing. Urine testing is less accurate
than the lie detector tests that have been
banned from the work place. Dr. David
Greenblatt, Chief of Clinical Pharmacology at
the Tufts Medical Center, called the most
widely used drug tests "essentially
worthless." An official for the Center for
Disease Control commented, "If these labs
dumped the samples down the sink or tossed a
coin, they would have come up with the same
reliability in their test
results."
If
impairment or performance is a genuine
concern, drug testing does not test for that
(not even remotely). Most accidents are
caused as a result of stress or sleep
deprivation. A simple eye hand coordination
test would be the sensible solution.
more...
> Top of Page <
Article
53 -
Urine Leads to Lawsuits
FAIRFIELD
-- Urine and chromates have prompted a pair
of lawsuits, one against Solano County, which
settled last week, and another which awaits a
hearing in federal court next
month.
Robert
Towner, a Solano County Transportation
Department maintenance worker, filed the
lawsuits. He had never heard of chromate
before his life was turned upside down when a
laboratory reported it had found the
substance in Towner's urine.
A few
days after the long Thanksgiving weekend last
year, Towner's boss in the county
transportation department told him he had to
take a random drug test.
The test
was nothing new to Towner. The urine test is
a routine check the county requires of its
vehicle operators, including Towner, to
insure they aren't driving while under the
influence of marijuana or other illegal
drugs.
While
the urine check had been a routine part of
Towner's job, it became decidedly unroutine
when the county told him they were going to
fire him because chromate had been found in
his urine sample.
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Article
54 -
Supreme Court Hears Arguments in High School
Drug Testing Case
The
Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments
in Pottawatomie County Board of Education v.
Earls, the case brought by Tecumseh, OK, high
school student Lindsay Earls, who challenged
the school district's policy requiring drug
tests for all students involved in any
extracurricular activities. In 1995, the
Supreme Court okayed drug testing for student
athletes in certain circumstances, but
attempts by local school boards to extend
drug testing beyond athletes have met with
mixed results in state and federal courts.
The Tecumseh policy was found
unconstitutional by the 10th US Circuit Court
of Appeals, but other federal appeals courts
have approved similar schemes in other school
districts.
In an
ominous note for student privacy, government
attorneys arguing the case used the occasion
to claim that the law already permits the
blanket, suspicionless drug testing of all
high school students -- not just athletes or
those involved in extracurricular activities.
Deputy Solicitor General Paul D. Clement told
the court just that. He argued that it is
constitutional to test all students, not just
those in voluntary extracurricular programs,
as was the case at Tecumseh High School.
"We're not saying this is constitutional
because it's consensual," he said.
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Article
55 -
To Whom It Should Concern
(Everybody)
To Whom
It Should Concern
(Everybody):
Having
been required to submit to random urinalysis
after a misdemeanor charge for possesion of
Cannabis, I tested positive for PCP on a five
panel drug screen test. To say that I was
fearful of the outcome would be an
understatement. After much anxiety and
contacting the manufacturer it turns out that
the test results occured because of an
anti-depressent named EFFEXOR. While I am
able to rectify this situation with my P.O.
there may be others not so fortunate, as well
as people being screened for employment
related matters. I strongly suggest that you
make this information widely available and
inform web sites that offer informa | 
