In “The limits of government”, columnist and Associate Editor Gil Smart states:
“Now, I have three kids, all of whom will be taught that drugs are dangerous, harmful and illegal. I think it’s great that our schools will make those same points inside the schoolhouse.”
WATCHDOG: Now, I have five kids, all of whom will be taught that drugs –all drugs – can be dangerous and harmful, regardless of whether they are legal or illegal. Alcohol, cocaine, heroin, nicotine and alcohol are equally as dangerous. Coffee and marijuana are far less so .
Laws created by opportunists and passed and maintained by ignoramuses and fearful politicians do not make one drug good and another bad. Science makes that determination.
Drug policy should be a public health and not a criminal justice matter. The War on Drugs has created the most profitable industry in the world and, as such, is responsible for the death of 56,000 Mexicans over the past few years as well as corruption and murder throughout the world.
Tax, regulate and control marijuana as we do alcohol and immediately solve two-thirds of the problems.
I’ll drink to that!
Also, please see below and also visit www.DrugWarFacts.com for government and peer reviewed reports concerning drugs.
(drug testing – students – deterrence of drug use) “The deterrent effect of drug and alcohol testing was present for the index of past year illicit drug use and combined drug and alcohol use, each at two follow-up time points. If DAT were to have an impact, the expected deterrent effect likely would be that the policy would alter recent (e.g., past month) use of drugs or drugs and alcohol, since student-athletes were under the threat of testing during that time period, but not during the summer months. However, no differences were noted at any of the four follow-up time points for past month indices of use of drugs or use of drugs and alcohol. With 16 opportunities overall to demonstrate a substance-use deterrent effect during 2 years and four follow-up assessments (Table 3), only four effects were significant. The significant effects for past year drug use and alcohol and drug use were not independent, as both scales included drug use.”
Source:
Linn Goldberg, MD, Diane L. Elliot, MD, David P. MacKinnon, PhD, Esther L. Moe, PhD, Kerry S. Kuehl, M.D., DrPH, Myeongsun Yoon, MA, Aaron Taylor, MA, and Jason Williams, MA, “Outcomes of a Prospective Trial of Student-Athlete Drug Testing: The Student Athlete Testing Using Random Notification (SATURN) Study,” Journal of Adolescent Health 41 (2007), p. 426.
http://proxychi.baremetal.com/csdp.org/research/PIIS1054139X07003230.pdf
Drug testing has actually become a more complex issue the last several months. There has been a spate of state legislation targeting welfare applicants or recipients, and some bills targeting unemployment applicants or recipients. Most of them have fizzled, but a few have passed, including one in Florida promoted by Gov. Rick Scott. Scott has also instituted a policy of drug testing public employees, though that would fit under workplace. Significantly, Congress has passed a law allowing (while not requiring) states to drug test unemployment applicants whose line of work is in industries that do drug testing.
The Florida welfare drug testing law has been blocked, at least temporarily, by an injunction sought by the ACLU of Florida. The federal law I mentioned awaits administrative rulemaking (and probably a court challenge.