RANDOM DRUG TESTING OF TEACHERS NEEDED

In his report of legislators' response to Hawai'i's crystal methamphetamine
("ice") epidemic, Advertiser Staff Writer Will Hoover, in the Jan. 26 issue,
quotes Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle as saying " ... you've got to
identify the people who've got the problem" by way of advocating drug
testing in schools.

Some years ago, a proposed resolution was introduced at the then-annual HSTA
convention in support of drug testing teachers. Naturally, it was voted down
decisively by delegates, who thought such a measure might infringe on the
fabricated right of privacy -- the one that hid in the "penumbra" of the
Constitution for more than a century and a half before it was magically
discovered by Justice William O. Douglas in Grisswold vs. Connecticut
(1966).

If Hawai'i is really going to get serious about drug abuse, I believe now --
as I did when I introduced the resolution -- that random drug testing of
teachers is a small but useful measure. Why? Teachers who use dope have no
business in a classroom and should be driven out of the profession. The
rights of children outweigh make-believe "rights" of adults who should know
better.

Thomas E. Stuart

Kapa'au, Big Island