Random Drug Testing in High Schools
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Lisa lisa.chamb...@nospamsas.com
I was watching the news the other night, and they did a story on a Texas (IIRC) high school where the students are subjected to random drug testing if they want to participate in extracurricular activities. The students have to submit a urine sample when they sign up for these activities, and they are subject to future random tests at any time. This was for all activities, from athletics to chorus to art. While I have never done any illegal drugs (I realize that some people cl***ify alcohol as a drug, and I have had alcohol, but it's legal), I don't agree with this practice.
I guess I had just been mulling over this since I saw the news piece, and I was curious how others felt. I'm especially curious to hear from those who *do* agree with this practice, because I have a hard time seeing how it is constitutional or just.
ger ...@beltonphoto.com (Gerald Belton)
In my humble opinion, it is neither constitutional nor just.
The Supreme Court has an Oklahoma case under consideration right now that deals with exactly this issue. State courts in Colorado, Indiana, and Pennsylvania have struck down random drug tests for those participating in extracurricular activities. Federal appeals-court panels in both the Seventh and Eighth Circuits have upheld similar programs.
An interesting article on the issue can be found here: http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0319/p01s01-usju.html Gerald
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"RoadHog" roadhog.nos...@phreaker.net
How are they able to get away with random testing of athletes on a college level?
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RH +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ remove "nospam" from address when replying by email +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ...
ber ...@yetta.net (That Funky Chick)
Questions of ethics aside, seems to me that this procedure is going to drastically reduce the number of students participating in extra-curricular activities. Even a kid who's never done drugs in his life won't is likely to resent having to submit to this, and/or be embar***ed by the whole thing.
So then we wind up with more kids who are bored and at loose ends after school. Which will increase the number of kids who are tempted to try you-know-what.
-Bertha
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Jury: A group chosen to decide who has the best lawyer.
"Andrew Smith" a...@mindspring.com
...nor worthwhile.
What's the point? If some kid's getting high all the time isn't he/she just ensuring we'll have enough potheads to fill the menial jobs?
I don't give a rip if a kid feels like he's gotta burn a big doobie before football/beta club/band. It really, *really* doesn't matter.
a.
ger ...@beltonphoto.com (Gerald Belton)
On Thu, 21 Mar 2002 14:38:30 -0500, "RoadHog" The same way they are able to get away with random testing of airline pilots... the safety issue is said to override the privacy issue.
Gerald
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Wedding and portrait photography Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill http://www.beltonphoto.com
bic ...@unIx.sas.com (Bill)
Yup. It's a catch-22 where we want to keep kids involved in sports to keep them occupied - and off drugs - but won't let them because they *may* already be users. I am tired of it and perhaps a bit cynical now. It seems to me the inmates are running the asylum, and have been for way too long. 8( rm -f I 2 reply
ger ...@beltonphoto.com (Gerald Belton)
As someone in alt.peeves said: "Drug testing the band? What are they trying to do, keep out the musicians?" Gerald
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Wedding and portrait photography Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill http://www.beltonphoto.com
Ken Denny k...@kendenny.com
What? What is the safety issue with college athletes?
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Ken Denny http://www.kendenny.com/ "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us." --
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Ana arctuNO...@inreSPAMach.com
Since when were schools places where the Constitution was in effect?
The things that go on in schools, especially high schools where the students are old enough they should be treated like adults, are apalling.
Ana
ber ...@yetta.net (That Funky Chick)
Most of the anti-drug propaganda I'm seeing these days seems to be along the lines of "Keep your kids off drugs by treating them like they're already on them." Like the ads telling you to be always asking your kid where she goes, who she goes with, what she's doing. Sure, you should have an idea of what your kid is up to--but if you're constantly acting like she's up to something, sooner or later she's likely to start thinking "Well, if they're going to treat me like a delinquent no matter WHAT I do, I might as well get the fun side of it too."
-Bertha
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"To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems!" -- Homer Simpson
ber ...@yetta.net (That Funky Chick)
Wouldn't want a wild free throw going into the stands, would we?
-Bertha
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If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.
Dweezil Dwarftosser f4...@yahoo.com
The constitutionality of it may depend upon what they do with the test results. Banishment (alone) from the activity might be constitutional - but forwarding those results to criminal authorites (or publishing results) certainly wouldn't be. Ditto for internal school "administrative action", such as suspension or expulsion.
- John T.
"Tom Gauldin" tgaul...@lvcm.com
Great. We need more of it, with harsh penalties for those caught with drugs. This would also have the side benefit of ridding the schools (fairly rapidly) of those "students" who have no business being with good kids.
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Tom Gauldin NEW EMAIL tgaul...@lvcm.com NEW PHONE (702) 263-8804 voice/fax Here's to the land of the butt-floss Thong, Where the lights shine brightly, all night long.
Where the Taxes are paid by Liquor and Sin, Here's to Nevada, where the Residents Win.
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"Tom Gauldin" tgaul...@lvcm.com
Nah, the good kids will have nothing to fear. The problems will come from the "athletes," who represent one drug-prone racial group. The COACHES will be the ones raising heck over it as their prime athletes are forced into drug programs and out of the schools.
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Tom Gauldin NEW EMAIL tgaul...@lvcm.com NEW PHONE (702) 263-8804 voice/fax Here's to the land of the butt-floss Thong, Where the lights shine brightly, all night long.
Where the Taxes are paid by Liquor and Sin, Here's to Nevada, where the Residents Win.
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"That Funky Chick" <ber...@yetta.net> wrote in message ...
noonehometo ...@aol.comliberty (Tom Bailey)
Since when is in effect anywhere?
Tom Bailey
cddu ...@localhost.pagesz.net (?)
Oh, the ones that hit the booze and no doze and what not instead of the ones that did pot, coke, and LSD?
It was the boozers that spawned the spiffy incident where a group went speeding down Queensferry in Macgregor downs and hit a brick mailbox while doing about 70MPH.
I have an extreme dislike for the reality distorting effects of the various legal and illegal substances. However, I can't stand drug testing. Drug testing successfully detects if someone has metabolized any of a small subset of the available substances. It fails to detect current impairment.
I find that annoying because most people are impaired sufficiently to be barred from tasks due to safety concerns WHILE THEY ARE STONE COLD SOBER.
As far as I can figure the only folks that win from the war on drugs are folks like Al Quaeda and other criminals. If it weren't for the artificially high price of illegal opiates, they would not have had that revenue source for the WTC bombing.
I don't give a damn if someone wants to live life in a chemical stupor.
As long as that person isn't costing me money or impairing my safety, let them.
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Chris Dukes "earthly insanity/brings us conformity the tinkling bells call me/it plays a leading role I never could foresee/the purity you stole" -- arte.fa(t's 'Purification'
cddu ...@localhost.pagesz.net (?)
Odd, all the dopers back in highschool were white.
Funny how having a significant portion of the school population come from an affluent neighborhood could skew the economics of the situation.
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Chris Dukes "earthly insanity/brings us conformity the tinkling bells call me/it plays a leading role I never could foresee/the purity you stole" -- arte.fa(t's 'Purification'
Ken Denny k...@kendenny.com
I've also heard that it only detects the dangerous drugs, like cocaine and heroin if tested within 24 hours of the drug use, but will detect marijuana up to a month after use. I'm not sure whether this is true or not but it's what I've heard.
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Ken Denny http://www.kendenny.com/ A joint venture is when you connect a person with some money to a person with some experience. When the venture is executed; the person with the experience got the money. And the person with the money got the experience.
Susan Hogarth s...@tribeagles.org
Oklahoma is the state you are thinking of.
I was pretty appalled at what one bereaved parent spewed at one reporter or at a hearing (?). She said something like "If my daughter's school had had drug testing she wouldn't be dead now." Hello? People can't test their *own* children? Keeping children drug-free is somehow now the sole province of the public schools?
That said - this wouldn't be an issue at all if we didn't have the government running the schools. It's amusing to see people who are sucking at the public teat complain that the milk is sour.
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Susan Hogarth s...@tribeagles.org
"Tom Gauldin" tgaul...@lvcm.com
They ultimately do cost you. Chris, since they either become democrats/tax burdens or institutionalized in some form or another. The ones who escape justice are the ones who pilfer your home or car for drug money.
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Tom Gauldin NEW EMAIL tgaul...@lvcm.com NEW PHONE (702) 263-8804 voice/fax Here's to the land of the butt-floss Thong, Where the lights shine brightly, all night long.
Where the Taxes are paid by Liquor and Sin, Here's to Nevada, where the Residents Win.
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cddu ...@localhost.pagesz.net (?)
So do the alcoholics, smokers, and abusers of sick leave.
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Chris Dukes "earthly insanity/brings us conformity the tinkling bells call me/it plays a leading role I never could foresee/the purity you stole" -- arte.fa(t's 'Purification'
"Fred Holt" h...@spamfree.nc.rr.com
MSNBC had a segment on this the other night, and they had a bubbly soccer mom who was all for the testing, for basically everybody. She said she regularly hauled her teenager in for a follicle test.
When pressed, she said that in her opinion the testing was justified, since any drug users in a school posed a "safety threat" to the whole population.
She wasn't apparently happy with only being able to get at the chess club -
she really wanted to test em all. When extended to other real life situations, she couldn't see any reason why the fuzz shouldn't be able to stop and demand samples from drivers on the street without suspicion - she really didn't see any reason for law abiding citizens to need the protection of the constitution. There's too many folks like that around.....
FH
bero ...@mindspring.com (Ed Beroset)
Yes, you're absolutely right, Fred. It's the same twisted logic that argues, "well he wouldn't have exercised his fifth amendment rights unless he was guilty..." Ed
noonehometo ...@aol.comliberty (Tom Bailey)
No Gauldin. those are to incompetent to cost me anything. They can't even get it together enough to take care of themselves. I am supposed to think they are smart enough to rob me?
No it is demopublicans who get them wrecked on drugs because the govt won't let them work and then it is the demopublicans not the dopers who rob me to pay for some miserable institution.
They are just hoping if they take enough from you maybe you will quit hiring thugs to break into their houses and take their stuff.
If you kept the govt from enforcing their monopoly by keeping drugs illegal unless you get their approval the price would plummet and the dopers could buy what they wanted with what they got from picking up aluminum cans from the side of the road.
If they are costing you Gauldin its cause you are costing them. Turn about is fair play.
Tom Bailey by the way good to have you back
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