The Drug Czar's inventions know no bounds -- now it's Don't Trust Parents
Link via Dare Generation Diary
NPR ran an interesting piece today on drug testing in schools, and the government's push for increased use of mandatory testing. The piece noted that less than 1/2 of 1 percent of all schools use mandatory random drug testing.
It was noted that available statistics don't support the value of testing and that the government has, inexplicably, failed to conduct their own legitimate study. There were some good quotes from Students for Sensible Drug Policy and school administrators saying that it makes more sense to drug test only for cause, and reduce drug use in schools through fact-based education.
The strangest part was the interview with the Drug Czar. He had much different views as to why schools don't participate in mandatory drug testing.
According to the John Walters
- Schools are afraid of lawsuits [Well, that's somewhat legitimate. Lawsuits are just one of the extensive costs to schools of implementing a drug testing policy.]
- Many are scared to death of what they're going to find...
"They're afraid they're going to find kids that need treatment. We're also going to find in some cases they didn't get their first drug or first drink from their friends -- they got it from their father or their mother or their brother." [emphasis added]
Is the Drug Czar seriously proposing that there's nationwide epidemic of parents drugging their kids that requires school drug testing to foil? (and we're not talking about Ritalin, here)
How outrageous can he get? He's saying that the government has to step in and take over parental responsibility for every child in this country because their parents are forcing drugs on their children.
Perhaps he's worried about newspaper editorials like this one which reasonably note:
If parents want to test their kids for drugs, the kits are cheap and available these days.
So in order to justify a reason for forcing mandatory random drug testing upon all children through the schools, he has to claim that parents can't be trusted.
Sick.
Of course, he never says how drug testing in schools will identify these drug pusher parents, or identify how students got their first drug or first drink. He also doesn't like to talk about the fact that mandatory random drug testing is for students in extra-curricular activities, meaning that students may be deterred from participating in activities that could actually reduce their drug use.
But that doesn't matter. It's about control, and it's about profitability for the drug testing industry. And to further those causes, the Drug Czar is authorized to invent any claims he wishes.
5:18:12 PM | drug policy | Links | permalink |
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