TESTING CHILDREN FOR DRUGS IS LATEST ATTACK ON CIVIL LIBERTIES

The U.S. Supreme Court has given us a number of issues to ponder this
summer. Although not yet involved in the fracas concerning the
constitutionality of the "under God" phrase in the Pledge of
Allegiance, the court has ruled that the execution of mentally ill
criminals is a constitutional violation; parents can use public
dollars at private or parochial schools; and drug testing school
children is OK. It's this last one that concerns me. The court has
ruled that schools have the authority, through the schools' "custodial
duties," in lieu of parents to protect "the safety and health of
students." So all school districts can now establish a drug test
policy for all students participating in extracurricular activities,
including nonathletic activities.

Those who oppose the court's ruling see it as another intrusion into
our privacy by government. The American Civil Liberties Union has
argued that the ruling violates the Fourth Amendment's guarantee
"against unreasonable searches and seizures." The court had ruled on
such searches and seizures previously, and the court had ruled that a
warrant or evidence of wrongdoing was needed by authorities to perform
them.

But, the court said, schools are different. Notwithstanding that those
who are tested may have "a limited expectation of privacy" and that
the "intrusive nature of the test is "not significant," as written by
Justice Clarence Thomas for the majority opinion. However, Justice
Ruth Bader, writing for the dissent, said the ruling is "capricious,
even perverse" because the policy targets students who are the least
likely to use drugs.

So, we have a majority that believes that drug culture is so ingrained
in our society that everyone needs to be tested: employees (and whose
not an employee?), before you become an employee, and now when you are
still a child. On the other hand we have dissenters who believe only
the kids who are "dopers" take drugs; that band participants, debate
team members, French and Spanish club members, do not use drugs. The
thinking among the court's members mirrors our national policy on how
to address the use of drugs in our culture: confused! It horrifies me
to think that illegal drug use is so widespread and acceptable in our
culture that many adults find nothing wrong with their children using
illegal drugs.

It horrifies me to think that there are many parents who not only use
illegal drugs but use them in full view of their children. It
horrifies and frustrates me that many adults use children to
disseminate illegal drugs to other children. And in my ideal world, I
am horrified and frustrated by all the money and enforcement power
spent, mustered, programmed and implemented over the years against
this growing menace without a declared victory.

But, like you, I live in a real world, one where anyone can find
illegal drugs. It's a world where the bad people and the good people
are not so easy to distinguish. While the enforcement has landed those
on the lower end of the socio-economic ladder in jail more often for
what once were misdemeanor offenses, the flow of drugs into the United
States and its dissemination to children has not been routed from our
land like the scourge it is! To protect children from children, in an
environment built for the safety of children, the court has decided
it's best to submit all children to searches and seizures for illegal
drugs. No child, should local school districts choose to implement
such a policy, will be exempt if he or she participates in
extracurricular school sponsored activities.

In a growing environment where personal and civil liberties are under
attack from government, we must tread carefully. We must not allow our
fear of the enemy or confusion about who the enemy is to give way to
belief in normalcy and safety provided solely by government.