Pubdate: Tue, 09 Jul 2002 Source: Washington Times (DC) Copyright: 2002 News World Communications, Inc. Contact: http://www.washingtontimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492 Author: Robert Sharpe, and Ray Aldridge HALF-BAKED DRUG RULING Bruce Fein defends the Supreme Court's latest drug-war exemption to the Constitution by claiming the Fourth Amendment "speaks in chiaroscuro" and drug-test failure is "not chimerical" ("Anti-drug successes and protections," Commentary, Monday). Mr. Fein's vocabulary is impressive, but his arguments are irrelevant. Student involvement in extracurricular activities has been shown to reduce drug use. Such activities keep kids busy during the hours they are most likely to get into trouble. Forcing students to undergo degrading urine tests as a prerequisite will only discourage their participation in such activities. Drug testing also may compel users of relatively harmless marijuana to switch to harder drugs to avoid testing positive. Despite a short- lived high, marijuana is the only drug that stays in the body long enough to make urinalysis a deterrent. Marijuana's organic metabolites are fat-soluble and can linger for days. Synthetic drugs are water-soluble and exit the body quickly. A student who takes ecstasy, methamphetamine or cocaine Friday night will likely test clean Monday morning. If you think students don't know this, think again. Anyone capable of running a search on the Internet can find out how to thwart a drug test. Drug testing profiteers do not readily volunteer this information, for obvious reasons. The most commonly abused drug and the one most closely associated with violent behavior is almost impossible to detect with urinalysis. That drug is alcohol, and it takes far more student lives every year than all illegal drugs combined. Instead of wasting money on counterproductive drug tests, schools should invest in reality-based drug education. ROBERT SHARPE Program officer Drug Policy Alliance Washington - --------------------------------------------- Of the Supreme Court's decision to allow suspicionless drug testing of students participating in extracurricular activities, Bruce Fein wrote: "'Unreasonable searches and seizures' are prohibited [by the Constitution]; but no specific clues are provided to demarcate the reasonable from the unreasonable." Mr. Fein neglected to quote from the remainder of the Fourth Amendment, which goes on to read: "no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." How can a legitimate warrant be issued for the search of randomly chosen persons who have, so far as anyone knows, done nothing wrong? It is not the duty of the Supreme Court to find some Rube Goldberg- like mechanism by which current political axes can be ground. It is the duty of the court to stand up for the Constitution. This it failed to do, and no amount of lawyeresque rationalization is going to change that. RAY ALDRIDGE Fort Walton Beach, Fla. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth