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Politics, Ethics, and Principles
of Drug Testing
Why is Drug Testing Legal?
There are six stages to the policymaking process:
Issue Identi cation \Some event, persion, or group calls attention to a
problem that needs government action" [Gitel, p.412].
Agenda Setting \The issue or problem is seriously considered by the pol-
icymaking institution" [Gitel, p.413].
Policy Formation \Someone must develop a proposal or program that can
address the issue" [Gitel, p.413].
Policy Adoption \includes e orts to obtain enough support so that a pro-
posal can become the government's stated policy" [Gitel, p.414].
Policy Implementation \The carrying out of policy mandates through
public programs and actions." [Gitel, p.415].
Policy Evaluation \Looking at government actions and programs to see
whether goals have been achieved to assess a policy's e ectiveness and
eciency" [Gitel, p.416].
We are still at the rst stage{ issue identi cation. Most people are not
even aware of the drug testing issue. Many people still believe that drug
testing detects impairment, and few are aware of the better alternatives.
You might ask why the Constitution has not protected us from this pri-
vacy invasion to begin with. Drug testing is an unreasonable search, and
it forces people to incriminate themselves. However, the Constitution does
not apply to private organizations. This means when an employer searches
you unreasonably, the government does not have to protect you using the
Constitution as a basis.
In cases where the government drug tests, it does violate the 4th and 5th
amendments.
The Workplace
It comes down to these values. An employer's right to know who s/he is
hiring stands in con ict with an individual's right to privacy. I wrote this
paper because I value the right to privacy more.
I also believe people should have the right to consume any substance
they want (without limits), given that they are knowledgeable about that
chemical. Employers, like anyone, have been a ected by the Reefer Mad-
ness Movement. The government pushed massive amounts of misinforma-
tion throughout communities and schools, and employers are not informed
enough yet to dictate what drugs will harm the workplace.
The only e ective way to select workers is to evaluate their performance
on the job.
First understand that drugs can actually improve performance. Aspirin
relieves pain, allowing a worker to continue. Marijuana (when consumed
on the job) makes repetitive factory oriented work more interesting, which
lengthens a workers attention span. Marijuana will actually make some people
more alert. After intensive testing, someone I know can solve the Rubix Cube
20 seconds faster when stoned. (not scienti c proof, yet interesting).
Stimulants will keep workers productive at the end of long work days.
Phil Smith summarizes an article in March 1990 Scienti c American
[SATC]:
[The article] suggested that workers who tested positive for
marijuana only: 1) cost less in health insurance bene ts; 2) had
a higher than average rate of promotion; 3) exhibited less absen-
teeism; and 4) were red for cause less often than workers who
did not test positive. Since marijuana is the most common illicit.
drug used by adults, and the one detected in up to 90 percent
of all "positive" drug tests (half of which are false), this fact
has
radical implications for current public and employer policies.
I could hardly believe what I was reading, but this article did carry sig-
ni cant statistical evidence.
I see greater negative e ects in drug testing than in drug use. In my
opinion, drug testing is un-American because guilt is assumed until the test
proves innocence. The peoples' civil liberties are su ering. This particular
privacy intrusion costs businesses $1.2 billion a year for urinanalysis of
their
workers.
If the negative e ects of drug use begin to show in the worker's perfor-
mance, then let it be unsatisfactory performance that leads to corrective
action, not suspicion of an unpopular lifestyle.
Nightbyrd has "counseled several, very straight, elderly workers - close
to retirement - who were red and lost their pension bene ts because they
'failed their drug test'" (Je Nightbyrd).
Athletics
Bernard Williams of the Philadelphia Eagles failed the drug test for mari-
juana. He was suspended from the NFL for six games for using a drug that
does not enhance performance. If anything, marijuana would detract from
an athletes performance. Let the coach judge Williams performance.
The U.S. Supreme court just ruled June 1995 that public high schools
can require drug test for all student athletes. Many high schools already
do random searches on students; not for weapons, but for drugs. After
all, the Constitution has failed to protect children in the classroom, why
not expand? Students have lost 1st, 4th, and 5th amendment rights, and I
think it is absurd. We have patriotic history teachers telling children of
their
Constitutional rights, yet children's rights are not protected on campus.
Kids
get kicked out of school for questioning rules that violate the Constitution.
14.4 Parenting
Now it is becoming commonplace for parents to drug test their children.
Perfect; let's break up the families; cut down those lines of communication.
and sneak around spying on our kids. Let's violate the child's privacy. We
use DARE like the Salem witch hunts { to get children to turn their parents.
Now with DrugAlert, parents have a weapon to use on their kids.
Discrimination Factor
It is important to consider the discrimination factor. People with dark skin
may fail the urine test due to the false positive melanin. Drugs are detected
easier in dark haired people when the hair test is used [Berns].
The Alternatives
Not all employers are Orwellian in nature. Many employers do not care
what you do at home in your o -time; they just want to ensure that you are
performing your best when you are at work. Out of ignorance, they think
the way to ensure high performance is to test for drug use. Obviously it's
not.
There is an alarming number false negatives and false positives in the
drug testing industry. That's a fact. And what it means is that competent,
law abiding workers are unfairly being denied employment and losing jobs.
The employers evaluation of the employees competency is dependent on the
competency of the lab. Even when the lab is competent, there are still false
positives due to other factors, all of which are outside the control of the
employee.
The fact that there are false negatives can lead to extremely severe dis-
asters in safety critical applications. For example, the case below explained
by an anonymous user:
I'm the Director of a program that monitors nurses and other
health professionals with chemical dependency. We recently had
a nurse anesthetist who had clean screens for over six months
and we approved her to return to anesthesia practice. Her rst
week on the job, two of her patients experienced complications
during surgery because of her impaired practice and ended up in
ICU in critical condition. I don't know if either one will regain
neurological function. The nurse went back to treatment and we.
asked her what happened. She had been drinking and using the
entire time. . .
So we have a situation where people assume that because someone passes
a drug test, then they must be safe. The fact is, an airline pilot can snort
a line of cocaine ve minutes before a drug test and pass no problem; then
step into the cockpit for a couple hour ight and be severely impaired.
It is impairment we want to test for { not lifestyle preference. This
is where performance impairment tests comes in. Impairment tests use a
computer to assess the employees hand-eye coordination, and a variety of
other variables that are related to the task, not the lifestyle of the employee.
The test only takes 30 seconds. It is superior to drug testing \in terms of
cost, timeliness and accuracy of results, and overall liability" [Fine].
Now suppose a surgeon nds out his fourteen year old daughter is preg-
nant, then has to stay up all night with his sick two year old. He is in no
condition to work the next morning; especially after just discovering that
his
stock took a dive as well. If he goes into work anyway, he will pass a drug
test, but not the impairment test.
We are sacri cing too many important rights by allowing drug testing to
continue. Until this unjust drug testing frenzy is put to an end, children,
workers, military service people, and parolees need to learn how to protect
themselves from the drug test.
How Can I Combat Drug Testing?
As a job seeker
Only consider employment from ethical companies. Support the companies
that care about you enough to respect your privacy. If you decide to work
for someone who drug tests, you are actively supporting their disrespectful
privacy policy; you are actively supporting lifestyle discrimination, and
you
are actively supporting the drug testing industry { even if you use techniques
in this paper to beat the test. If you seek employment from a company you
are not sure about, and discover that they drug test, then decline the test
and explain that you will not tolerate having your privacy violated and dignity
stripped. Tell them you are drug free, and make it clear to them that they
lost a good worker because of their intrusive policy.
As an employee
If you already have a job, then go to The Non-testers List 1 and verify that
the company you work for is accurately listed. If it is not, then add it to
either the good list or the black list. Ensuring the accuracy of this database
is important to the cause.
If you work for a company that drug tests, consider working for a respect-
ful employer instead.
As an employer
Whatever you do, do not drug test! Respect the privacy of your employees
lifestyle, and do it with pride. Some companies that do not drug test post
bulletins around the workplace which proudly state the companies privacy
policy. Also, be sure to reward yourself by adding your company to The
Non-Testers List 2 for free advertizing and positive publicity.
As an employer who has to manage safety critical applications, do not use
drug tests to test for impairment. It does not work. This strategy leads to
the elimination of drug-free workers (in cases of false positives), and it
also fails to catch workers who are impaired (false negatives). False negatives
can lead to disasters. Use impairment tests such as that developed by Performance
Factors 3 . Impairment tests are not intrusive, they are more cost e ective
and take less time to administer, and they test impairment rather than lifestyle.
As a juror
If you ever serve as a juror for a case where someone is being charged for
a
drug o ense, and a drug test is used as evidence, be aware of jury nullifcation.
If sucient evidence is submitted supporting a law you consider unjust, you
have a right to vote not-guilty, simply because you disagree with the law.
You may agree with the law, yet disagree with the punishment for that particular
crime. If you feel the punishment will be too harsh, you also have the right
to vote not-guilty. Vote your conscience. The court never tells the jurors
of this undisclosed right, but it is there. The Fully Informed Jury Association
is a good source for this information.