COUNTY'S TOUGH DRUG POLICY JUSTIFIED

The concept that anyone can make a mistake and should be permitted at
least one opportunity to redeem oneself has been around a long time.
However, increasingly widespread substance abuse has forced public and
private employers to take a much harder line.

Thus, Bibb commissioners have adopted what has become popularly known
as a "zero tolerance" policy toward substance abuse while on the job.
An employee who tests positively for illegal drugs is fired on the
spot under a recently developed policy.

Experience with trying to rehabilitate employees found to be drug
users is spotty at best. What a public employer is doing in providing
exceptions to firing is gambling with taxpayer liability if not with
the lives of citizens coming in their path. No public employee should
be given a second chance, regardless of his or her record of service,
if found to have been using drugs while operating a county owned
vehicle, for example.

Public employees must agree as a condition of employment to remain
drug free. The trouble with giving certain employees a second chance
is that the process is unavoidably subjective. In the past, county
employees with very good employment records were given an opportunity
to enter a rehabilitation program. If they successfully completed the
program, then the person could be salvaged.

However, since human beings are ultimately having to make often very
fine distinctions over just how much risky behavior is too much, the
road to redemption can be too rocky, legally and morally.

It is better to have one crystal clear rule for all.

The lack of a zero tolerance policy was brought up by Commissioner Joe
Allen. County attorney Virgil Adams advised the draft of an entirely
new policy. Allen said he became alarmed when 10 of 82 public works
employees failed a drug test. That level of drug use by public works
is an embarrassment to every person who works for the county, and it
simply could not be allowed to continue.

Random drug testing, apparently, applies only to persons deemed to
hold safety-related jobs such as drivers or operators of heavy
equipment. However, the list of persons tested should probably also be
reviewed to make sure it covers all appropriate jobs. Chronic
substance abusers do not make good employees no matter what job they
hold. At least in theory, a drug-induced error on the part of any
important job holder could wind up causing inexcusable harm.

It's a shame it has come to this. What once was considered an invasion
of a person's privacy is now a generally accepted condition of
employment. But drug and alcohol abuse have no place in today's work
environment.