Pubdate: Sat, 06 May 2000 Source: Spokesman-Review (WA) Copyright: 2000 Cowles Publishing Company Contact: P.O. Box 2160 Spokane, WA 99210 Fax: (509) 459-5482 Website: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/ Forum: http://cg.zip2.com/spokane/scripts/community.dll?ep1 Author: D.F. Oliveria, staff writer Bookmark: MAP's link to Washington articles is: http://www.mapinc.org/states/wa ASSAULT ON RIGHTS SHOULD BE FLUSHED From both sides: Should employers test for use of illegal drugs? Soon, we'll all be peeing in a bottle to prove our worthiness to work, play, raise families: Grandma, before she's allowed to visit her grandchildren. Mom and Dad, before they're allowed to play recreational softball. Junior, before he's allowed to ride on the rooter's bus. Who knows? Maybe editorial writers someday will have to prove they're drug free before they're permitted to opine -- not that clear thinking is required to do this job. We're not only headed down a slippery slope here; we're near the bottom. Unable to win the drug war through education and enforcement, we've allowed well-meaning people and insurance companies to foist drug testing on one target group after another. Now, through anti-drug programs at school and in the workplace, they're coming after the rest of us. Coeur d'Alene's Enough Is Enough anti-drug program is the latest wholesale assault on the Fourth Amendment. For those who have forgotten, the Fourth Amendment gives U.S. citizens the right ``to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures." Whether recognized by an activist judicial system or not, random drug tests are an unreasonable search. Basically, the tests say to workers: You're guilty till proven innocent. The Supreme Court pushed us over the edge a decade ago by ruling that the Fourth Amendment must bow to public safety. The court said train engineers and gun-carrying federal agents could be required to submit to drug testing. Later, the ruling was expanded to include pilots, firefighters and police. Most of us were comfortable with the decisions because no one wanted to fly in a jet piloted by someone strung out on methamphetamine, or worse. But what danger does an office secretary pose to herself or others if she's high or hung over? If her performance is substandard, she should be warned. Or fired. Not sent to pee at a laboratory approved by a health maintenance organization. In Coeur d'Alene, school children gladly pee in bottles to join Idaho Drug Free Youth. Mayor Steve Judy and four of six City Council members willingly pee in bottles as an example for staff. Kootenai County workers can be ordered to pee in a bottle. Coeur d'Alene -- and society -- is becoming acclimated to drug testing. Literally, we're peeing away a precious right. - --- MAP posted-by: Eric Ernst