Pubdate: Fri, 30 May 2003
Source: Springfield News-Leader (MO)
Copyright: 2003 The Springfield News-Leader
Contact:  http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1129
Author: Timothy Stanton

DRUG TESTING: PERSON'S WORD MEANS NOTHING

Re: The May 26 letter, "Innocent have nothing to fear." This is a phrase 
you hear frequently in reference to drug-testing.

To me, it sounds like an evil decree issued by autocratic magistrates 
during the Spanish Inquisition. It reeks of McCarthyism, and I'm sure Josef 
Stalin would have been all for it. I suppose we should all take comfort 
that the perpetrators aren't imprisoned in a gulag or shot.

The writer of the letter conveyed that his kids attend a school where all 
students must agree not to use drugs or alcohol. I assume the initial 
agreement is verbal or in writing. Still, they have drug tests. The 
conclusion: a person's word means nothing.

Drug testing kids is one thing, but as a prerequisite for adult employment 
it has to go. Man is reduced to a series of blood levels and litmus tests.

Employees are now doing the dirty work for the DEA because, without a test, 
most pot smokers could never be detected. Drug testing is an insult to 
man's integrity, and if we agree to it, we deserve to have all our rights 
stripped away.

Timothy Stanton,

Springfield
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MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens