cannabisnews.com: Student Privacy Just a Specimen for Profit





Student Privacy Just a Specimen for Profit
Posted by CN Staff on July 19, 2002 at 23:07:03 PT
By Walter Shapiro
Source: USA Today 
Washington — "Folks, it's saleable, but we have to stand up and sell it."That pitch Thursday morning came from Rep. John Peterson as he fervently hawked expanded drug testing in the schools. "We need to raise this debate nationally," the Pennsylvania Republican declared. "Testing makes a huge difference. Testing can help parents know when their kids are in trouble. Testing can help schools know when they have a lot of kids doing drugs. Kids will know that if they do drugs, they will get help."
When the Supreme Court ruled late last month in an Oklahoma case that schools can legally require students to take drug tests as the price for participating in extracurricular activities, that 5-4 decision galvanized a movement. The next step is to persuade skeptical school districts to make specimen cups as much a part of the high-school experience as prom night. That was Peterson's message as he spoke to a little-known group that understands the trickle-down economics of the drug wars.Peterson was the keynote speaker at an all-day conference sponsored by the Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA). It should be no surprise to anyone who understands the folkways of Washington that the administrators of drug-testing services have their own 1,200-member trade association. DATIA represents this fast-growing industry on Capitol Hill and sponsors courses in such 21st-century specialties as "Certified Professional Collector Trainer in Urine Specimen Collections." Small wonder that nearly 200 DATIA members came to Washington to learn how they might profit from the Supreme Court's new permissive stance on school-based drug testing.OK, it's unfair to suggest that these purveyors of cup-related services view the issue solely in terms of expanding their market. For they are also passionate advocates of their unique frontline role in the battle against drug abuse. Typical is Ann Schwieman, part owner of a Flint, Mich., company, who suggested during the morning session that parents and students should feel "privileged" to submit to random drug tests. But Schwieman, whose business currently revolves around workplace testing, also admits, "When I started working with safety-sensitive employees, I predicted that the next big group would be school administrators."That is indeed the dream. In most states, drug testing in the schools has been limited to athletes. But now the high court has potentially opened the floodgates to permit random testing wherever there is a high-school chess team, a marching band or a chapter of the Future Farmers of America. As Brian Walters, a partner in a Russell Springs, Ky., testing firm puts it: "My business is based on volume. The biggest thing I have ahead of me is to educate the school administrators."Part of that education process lies in teaching school boards how to take advantage of the Oklahoma decision. Tom Eden and Bill Judge, two attorneys experienced in drug-testing cases, gave a 90-minute seminar outlining the implications of the ruling. Eden emphasized that a semblance of privacy must be maintained: "Direct observation of the student in my opinion would most likely be considered a constitutional violation." But the legal system offers few protections for, say, a debate-club member who is unable to produce a sample. "If there is no physical reason for it," Judge said, "it should be treated as a refusal to test."Complete Title: Student Privacy Just a Specimen for Profit, Politics Snipped:  Complete Article: http://www.usatoday.com/news/e98/shapiro/643.htm Source: USA Today (US) Author: Walter Shapiro Published: July 19, 2002Copyright: 2002 USA Today, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.Contact: editor usatoday.comWebsite: http://www.usatoday.com/Related Articles:Subsidized Student Drug Testing Bill http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13467.shtmlSupreme Court Okays Random Drug Testing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13239.shtmlUS Pupils Face Random Drug Testing http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13030.shtml
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Comment #6 posted by freedom fighter on July 23, 2002 at 00:42:30 PT
A sign at the Diversion office
"If you refuse to do piss test, you will be fined 23$"Maybe Piss Sex Abusers ought to be bannned!!Will most likely raise the price of doing stupid pee test!Damn! Just about everything thing for SALE! Legal or not!ff
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Comment #5 posted by R-Earing on July 20, 2002 at 09:04:25 PT:
Youth incarceration rate will soar
Extracurricular activities are going to dry up.If you have to give up all pleasure just to play in the school band,who's going to join band? Remember school band? It was the geeky kids who got teased about everything anyway-now they won't be able to puff with their peers at a party.Even more geeky.If those kids get isolated and miserable enough , more Columbines.(and we all know pot has never contributed to the "music" scene anyway)Keep your pee fetishists away from the kids!Profitable testing companies are not worth ruining young lives over.Invest your money is some good ,old patriotic nuclear missle companies instead.Invest in good solid companies that make such American indispendsibles like ritalin,tear gas,and handguns. How would you like to be a coach going to the state championships and know that all your players are trying to trick and evade you rather than learn from and respect you?
How would you ever get any team spirit and discipline if you've set yourself up as the Narc? You could be the greatest coach ever,always giving 110% for your team,but at the end of the day-you're still a stool pigeon rat Narc.
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Comment #4 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on July 20, 2002 at 08:48:23 PT
Why stop with students?
>>"My business is based on volume. The biggest thing I have ahead of me is to educate the school administrators."  Educate them? Heck, why not pee-test 'em? There's only so many students, and after a while I'm sure the DATIA will want to expand their profit margins even further. After all, if druuuuugs are so dangerous, then why should we let people teach our children without being tested for them?>>Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA)  I love it when they use the phrase "drugs and alcohol"... but do they really test for alcohol in these urinalysees? (What is the plural form of urinalysis, anyway?) Then they REALLY need to test the school administrators!! And the supreme court!!http://www.datia.org/  
http://www.drugtestingnews.com/
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Comment #3 posted by John Tyler on July 20, 2002 at 07:18:11 PT
Testing
If guys like, Peterson, Barr, Souder, etc. are defeated in Nov. the other politicians will take notice.
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Comment #2 posted by Jose Melendez on July 20, 2002 at 06:24:08 PT
It just goes to show...
Drug war is industry, not policy.
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Comment #1 posted by xxdr_zombiexx on July 20, 2002 at 06:09:56 PT
Enforcing the Police State
OK, it's unfair to suggest that these purveyors of cup-related services view the issue solely in terms of expanding their market. For they are also passionate advocates of their unique frontline role in the battle against drug abuse. Typical is Ann Schwieman, part owner of a Flint, Mich., company, who suggested during the morning session that parents and students should feel "privileged" to submit to random drug tests.God, what a maroon! How the auther sucks up to these people. They are in it because they care? Some of them might genuinely believe this. And they are probably loonies...(hehehe ;Pee-occupied).But then I genuinely believe they are assisting the Federal Governemnt in projects it itself is forbidden to undertake because of the Constitutiton.The Supreme Court has been weighted down with enough Judges of the right-wing-extreme Like Judege Scalia (Or those who owe the RWE - like Clarence Thomas). Remember the decision was 5-4, it was not unanimous. The testing industry was developed with carlton Turner, a friend of the Reagens. That who group of RWE's is responsible for drug testing and cannabis prohibition. They were also the people whining about Led Zeppelin records with backwards tracks and that rock music was the Devil's work. (It's well-know only Sammy HAgar and Patsy Cline were in league with the Devil.)Team Bush's biggest assault on freedom will be filling Judge Positions with more Scalia's and Thomas's. Bush's Rubber Stamp Posse.Anyway, these caring professionals representadministrators of drug-testing services [who] have their own 1,200-member trade association. DATIA represents this fast-growing industry on Capitol Hill and sponsors courses in such 21st-century specialties as "Certified Professional Collector Trainer in Urine Specimen Collections."As if teachers don't have enough to do. And we have to spread this injustice as far and wide as we can before some other bright student with knowledgeable parent files another suit about this open and blatant violation of the 4th amendment. I do not care what Clarence Thomas thinks : if he had to be pee-tested evertime he wanted to do something, I know he'd see it different. The issue is the Furtherance of an Oppressive State.Peeing for Authority is a sign of submission in the Animal Kingdom. Piss and roll on your back when the Dominant Ones come around...so they will accept your presence and not kill you or banish you from the pack.I fail to see ANY difference except that humans have made it a profitable industry for a few and a an end-run around the 4th Amendment.
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