Supreme Court approves random drug tests for many public high schools

Associated Press / SFGate

[Elsie]

The next post reply will start with the numeral two.............

[Elsie]

WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness -- That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security. Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the present King of Great- Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid World.

[Elsie]

Damn Radical, isn't it?

[WyldKard]

Gee..only a member since June 11th....methinks I smell a disruptor...

[LostThread]

What do you bet that they'll use this to make certain that your kids are taking their ritalin?

What do you bet that you have never experienced a child that requires this drug to perform easy daily tasks!!! Therefore should you really be making fun of children that actually need this drug???

[Carry_Okie]

What do you bet that you have never experienced a child that requires this drug to perform easy daily tasks!!! Therefore should you really be making fun of children that actually need this drug???

Sure I have, and the parents fixed the problem by taking the kid off the drugs and teaching the him at home. First of all, I didn't make fun of any kid. I was pointing out a fact: prescription drugs are over-prescribed in public schools, often for simple discipline problems associated with kids who rightly rebel from the treatment they get in the classroom. If you understood the power of the cognitive dissonance produced by whole language reading instruction, or the Hegelian dialectic, you would understand how much of ADHD is PRODUCED by public school pedagogy.

Do your homework and don't beat on people for your paranoid reading of a factual statement. This IS what they will do with this ruling.

[Ol' Sox]

I don't mind them testing my boys, as long as all the teachers and administrators are tested too. I'd bet a fair amount that the NEA won't be agreeing to that, though...

[bjs1779]

I Pledge Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, under Courts, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Your cup......please.

[rb22982]

goodness man, you sound like a totalitarian, not a conservative.

Since teacher317 isn't breaking the law guys, he won't mind if eventually we have SWAT teams randomly show up at his house in the middle of the night to verify that he has no drugs. After all, if you haven't committed a crime, why should you worry.

Don't worry Hitler317, I'm sure many other 'small government conservatives' agree with you

[WFTR]

This is unfortunate. While I understand the need to fight drug use and understand that minors do not and should not have the same rights as adults, this decision will only further the programming of young people to be ignorant of their rights. We have random testing because we don't have the guts to test people who are clearly impaired in some way. In large part, we've lost this ability because too many courts have ruled in favor of people who sued even though there was clear probable cause that they had done something wrong. Testing students will most likely cause them to think that protection against warrantless search is only intended to protect the guilty when in reality it was supposed to protect the innocent.

Mostly Afraid of the Ignorance (of the 4th Amendment)
Bill

[zoyd]

Although I support the suppression of illegal drug use and enforcement of the nation's drug laws in most respects, this decision is stupid, wrong, and wrong-headed. There is not much of an intellectual leap from randomly testing school students (who are REQUIRED by the law to be in school) to randomly testing Joe Nosepicker in his double-wide. The slippery slope is wide, yawning, and especially slimy on this one.

I think the Apocalypse is coming... I completely agree with you. This teaches kids all the wrong things, and is based on strange logic (extra-curriculars reduce expected privacy(?)) and poor percentages to boot (a school with a supposedly bad drug problem tests 500 kids and gets 3 positives?)

I have to go rest now. The shock has rendered me woozy.

[Sandy]

Kids inolved in some type of extra-curricular activity are less likely to use drugs than those that aren't, because (imho) they find something more productive to focus on then drugs

Exactly. The girl who brought this suit was a member of the choir and the marching band (two notorious havens for drug users, eh?), the Academic Team and the National Honor Society.

The most sickening aspect of this though is the fact that drug tests are so easy to beat. The trick is to stay away from marijuana, which stays in the system for way too long. OTOH, a cocaine weekend is undetectable by Monday with the help of a little lasix. Talk about unintended consequences.

[southern rock]

Extra-curricular activities are not a right, and putting conditions on participation happens all the time. You have to maintain certain GPA levels, etc. It is not an invasion of privacy, because the students have the right to refuse, and they are not denied any of their rights by their refusal - but they may be denied a privilege.

Governmental institutions have no authority to hand out privileges to individuals. It's actually the other way around.

[hoosierham]

Apt screen name KRYPTONITE, for a view poisonous to liberty and justice. This ruling is just plain WRONG, but it will serve to make future generations even more tolerant of intrusive, invasive nanny - state gov't.

[CA Conservative]

Governmental institutions have no authority to hand out privileges to individuals. It's actually the other way around.

Actually, government cannot hand out rights to anyone, privileges are a separate issue. Are you saying that students should be able to participate in any activity they want, even if they are failing, etc? No restrictions or conditions at all? You are taking the libertarian position to an extreme that is ridiculous.

[Orion]

I would hope you would also be in favor of a zero-tolerance policy, where upon the results of a positive test, the offender is incarcerated until he 21 without benefit or need of a trial, I mean why take baby steps when trashing constitutional protection go whole hog.

Why stop there? I say they should be identified as a "combatant" in the "war" on drugs, and the undeclared, undefined "war" on terrorism. Strip them of their citizenship, give them a secret tribunal, and ship them off to XRAY!!!

Consistency folks!!! We need to follow our leaders!!! The Constitution does not apply in this case!!! We are at war!!! They violated some court ruling!!! They violated what is written in your passport!!! The Constitution is secondary to the opinions of judges!!! UNITED WE STAND!!! THESE COLORS DON'T RUN!!! GOD BLESS THE USA!!! YOU ARE EITHER WITH US OR FOR THE TERRORISTS/DRUGGIES!!!

[Orion]

The DEATH OF COMMON SENSE runs rampant even at FR.

The DEATH OF COMMON SENSE runs rampant ESPECIALLY at FR.

[Orion]

Checkmate.

[Orion]

According to the implied consent law, if you are driving, you have consented to be tested for driving under the influence. If you are stopped,the police have the right to test you for alcohol through a blood, breath or urine test. If you refuse, you can lose your license, even if it is later found that you were not under the influence. That is because you agree to being tested as a condition of getting your driver's license...

Not so fast...
The cops still need probable cause that one is under the influence. They, in no way, may randomly pull people over and force them to submit to a test.

This decision stinks. Drugs are nasty things, but setting a precedent that one is subject to government intrusion in your private affairs, is even worse.

I read in a paper today that the California ASSembly voted to test MLB players for performance enhancing drugs. These are guys engaged in a private practice, and using a substance which their organization believes to be consistant with the rules of baseball. It's just do-gooders trying to expand government.

[Rome2000]

"We find that testing students who participate in extracurricular activities is a reasonably effective means of addressing the school district's legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and detecting drug use," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for himself,

Earth to Clarence Thomas and the other assorted dunderheads.

Students on the Chess Club and the Debating team are not the ones doing drugs.

Forcing drug free students to pee in a cup to satisfy some anal retentive administrator is not only an totally unjustified unacceptable infringement of individual rights but is borderline perverted.

The Principal and his cronies should get their kicks somewhere else.

Just goes to show that no court is right 100% of the time.