Drug Czar Favors Testing Teens

Miami Herald ^ | June 4, 2005

[skimbell]

Sounds like the "cigarette ploy". Remember that? The do-gooder lefties only wanted to stop cigarette smoking on "domestic flights shorter than...yada, yada, yada"!

Where'd that wind up? Christ, I think that they've got it now to where it's illegal to smoke in your own house in some places.

[zeugma]

Until they show they are serious about this by testing every single person employed by any governmental body all the way from the President of the United States right down to the local dog catcher, they can just shut up about drug tests of any kind.

These statists are pushing their agenda by indoctrinating kids into accepting the notion that it's O.K. for the government to tell you to piss into a jar on demand. Once the kids think it's a-ok to do this without any probably cause whatsover, you're less than a generation away from some really evil stuff IMO.

In the name of full disclosure: If someone were to strap me down (because that's the only way this will happen) and extract a blood or urine sample from me, the only thing they'll find are traces of ibupropen (advil), and caffeine levels that would kill a medium-sized elephant.

[i_dont_chat]

I insist that all journalists, who report on this drug testing, also be drug tested.

[Turbopilot]

What a joke. A "conservative" government official doesn't see anything wrong with forcing minors to provide the government with their bodily fluids to prove they aren't doing anything wrong?

This seems like one issue where liberals and most real conservatives would both be outraged. Unfortunately, I worry that there's such a divide that those two groups aren't even willing to talk, let alone work together, at a grassroots level.

[kms61]

The crazy thing is, if you posted this on DU, you'd get substantially the same reaction you're getting here. It's maybe the ONE thing both sides agree on. So I have to ask, where's the constituency for this drug war BS?

[SpaceBar]

I'm going to rewrite my original post with a few changes...

The pattern by which governments erode rights is to start with a subset of the population that garner little sympathy. Flood the popular media with images of troll-like bloggers surfing political websites. Every other story is about politics and online news forums causing trouble. Get middle america to resent them and demand a solution. Then drop the ax. Goodbye America. It was fun.

[Oztrich Boy]

"The question is: Why not apply this to young people?"

Because by 2008 there will be a large number of annoyed new voters wanting payback on this "public tool" and will then vote for Hillary.

[Haru Hara Haruko]

You put your finger on it:

Bush is losing core voters. Not solving immigration. Making good taxpayers bend over for the TSA anal probe, and now their children forced to pee in a jar for the government to test.

Woo hoo! THAT will make you crawl across broken glass to vote Republican, eh?

[Arthur McGowan]

There's a simpler way to protect kids against other people's drug-dealing kids: Abolish government schools.

[bigsigh]

is this another one of those chain smoking drug czars?

[coloradan]

If school boards institute random drug testing in the public schools, the use of illegal drugs among teens would be sharply reduced, said John Walters, the director of National Drug Control Policy.

I'm all for it. If adopted, the use of government schools would be sharply reduced.

[jocon307]

What you said!

Paging Ron Kuby....Paging Ron Kuby... the VRWC needs your help to protect our kids!

[jocon307]

"So I have to ask, where's the constituency for this drug war BS?"

Er, that would be the dirty politicians as my Irish Grandma termed them.

[Drew68]

So I have to ask, where's the constituency for this drug war BS?

I'm certain the "All Dopers Should Be Hung And If You Don't Agree You Are A Morally Vacant LIBERALterian!" crowd will mosey on by shortly.

[11B40]

I must confess,the title of Drug Fuehrer has a certain ring to it.

[Milton Friedman]

"Conservatives" can scare me, and sometimes even more than "liberals". And I fancy myself a proud conservative.

Maybe we don't want to be to big a party. Maybe you have to dilute the values too much to attract everyone to join.

People talk about the founding fathers and their intent when it suits their purpose. I cannot imagine that our founding fathers would want this in any way shape or form.

And what is the next logical step? I am not sure. Why not test everyone? And once you test positive, that is proof that you have broken the law. You are a criminal. Doesn't that mean fines, confiscation of private property and jail time? How could it not? You would be a criminal if you tested positive.

What happened to the party of smaller government?

[bigsigh]

some more nonsense by your likeminded thinkers.

[Iscool]

If school boards institute random drug testing in the public schools, the use of illegal drugs among teens would be sharply reduced, said John Walters, the director of National Drug Control Policy.

If these gestapo wannabees would shut down the border to illegal aliens, the use of illegal drugs among teens would be sharply reduced, says the average grade schooled American citizen...

[robertpaulsen]

Nonsense? The author made a good point -- workplaces test employees for drugs. I assume you agree with that policy, correct?

Why not schools? Don't the taxpayers have a right to see that their hard-earned money is well spent on educating sober and drug free students?

You don't want to be tested? Fine. Then stop sucking the public teat and find a private school that doesn't test. Or homeschool. There are options.

[Turbopilot]

I'm certain the "All Dopers Should Be Hung And If You Don't Agree You Are A Morally Vacant LIBERALterian!" crowd will mosey on by shortly.

You know, I've seen that kind of post on various threads. I think a lot of the problem is that drugs can be detected through testing of bodily fluids. If it were possible to detect homosexuality, abortions, flag-burning, or Islamofascism via a urine test, and the government started insisting that good citizens take those tests to prove their "innocence", our so-called "social conservatives" would be marching on Washington.