And we already know how the tests will be marketed to the public: "What kind of a person supports the continuing carnage on our highways anyway?" Americans have already been conditioned by many recent articles along this line and some of them can be found by searching cannabisnews for the journalist and drug-war prostitute Jean Wright.

But it's interesting to try to look at some of the real motivations and consequences.

First of all, cannabis bigots will take great satisfaction in submitting to the test. No matter how ignorant, how ill-tempered, how impoverished, how utterly failed in life, or just plain personally repulsive they may be, drug & hair absolution will provide them an enduring sense of well-being and even superiority: I'm okay, you're not.

And, as usual, the expanded testing transfers resources from productive people doing real work to the army of bureaucrats the government empowers just to make life difficult and keep a troublesome population - those not in the direct employ of government or its highly regulated contractors - completely satisfied and out of the way. A jerk in a lab coat who could not master trigonometry and ought to be washing bottles somewhere, will don a hair collector's lab coat and boast to the dumb girls at the bar that he's a highly qualified scientist.

Of course cannabis can't be wiped out, but the more witting in government know that the tests will further polarize the country, and anyone who simply prefers taking the bus to work will be suspected of drug addiction..."uhh, does she have a licence or what?" So you can expect, in conjunction with the new testing, that city planners will be financially motivated to make shopping malls, grocery stores and public transportation ever more inaccessible without a car.

The government just loves to see people obsessed with each other's hair and urine. It likes them endlessly quarrelling over morally unresolvable issues like abortion, and when debate is suppressed and the question masqueraded as a moral problem then the re-legalization issue too becomes an impossibility and an endless drain of energy that might otherwise be directed in ways embarrassing to those who value their power over others above all else.

A few clever mavericks will make some money from the new tests. They're in the medical libraries today reading in clinical and forensic journals about the many weaknesses of the hair tests, and they'll make a black market in chemicals and procedures designed to beat the them.

Cynically, to the benefit of the anti-war movement, many closet smokers who have for years successfully evaded detection will be caught up in the new policies. They'll be angered and some will finally speak out and join us.

Many, many others will simply drive without licences. They won't even show up at their birthdays to renew them. They'll suffer the legal consequences when they're caught, buy or steal cars when theirs are forfeited, and drive again.

"Most of all, compassionate welfare reform must encourage more and more Americans to find the independence of a job. Today, states on average must require work of only 5 percent of adults getting welfare. I am proposing that every state be required within five years to have 70 percent of welfare recipients working or being trained to work at at least 40 hours a week. These work requirements must be applied carefully and compassionately."

"Because many on welfare need new skills, my plan allows states to combine work with up to two days each week of education and job training. Our proposal allows for three months in full-time drug rehabilitation or job training. And adolescent mothers can meet their work requirements by attending high school. A work requirement is not a penalty. It is the pathway to independence and self-respect. For former welfare recipients, this path has led to a new and better life."

"drug users",,and "drug offenders",,are going to become the new target of this evil empire.. Sad,,, but true.. There is already the national ad campaign that makes drug users the same as "terrorists"..I saw one this morning on FOX..." I had lunch,,,and then I bombed a roomful of people".... ...I continue to believe in the cause of trying to reform drug laws,,but I have now reached the conclusion,,that attempting to reform drug policy,is rather secondary,and trivial when one considers the jaggernaut of the empire,and it's stranglehold on power...After all ,it wont make much difference if medical Marijuana is approved by the feds,if you are denied a job,or drivers license,or insurance.....I'm not suggesting that our cause is not usefull,or good and necessary,, Im saying that we better not limit our concerns to the drug war,because the drug war is actually just one small part of an immense problem, ,and unless the big problem is addressed,,I'm afraid smaller problems will make little difference in the big picture...

Actually, they could care less if it is a hair sample as long as they get their pound of flesh.

Will the driver's license division have those drugs on hand, ready to be dispensed?

We've got LSD, cocaine, methamephetaime, but no cannabis. Cannabis is an herb, not a drug. You'll have to test that somewhere else.

Any other drugs will have to be requisitioned, and we'll be able to have them for you within three days. Until then, we can't renew your driver's license.