Your privacy rights vary from state to state, as citizens of Washington State may have just found out to their surprise.
In a tiny rural county in the Evergreen State, a public school had required random drug tests of its sports participants. Since not everyone wanted to pee to play, the case found its way to the court. In mid-March the issue was decided by the state’s Supreme Court. The state’s guarantee that “No person shall be disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without authority of law,” was held to nix the program.
There has to be reasonable suspicion to require drug tests, at least in Washington.
Urinating into a cup, on demand, is a breach of privacy. Random demands for this were held by the court to be “warrentless.”
Some think random drug testing of children is a great idea, liberties and constitutions be damned. I prefer freedom. It is demonstrated criminal behavior that warrants the intrusion of police power. Not mere generalized suspicion.
And let’s be frank: random drug tests are there only to inspire a general level of fear, leading (it is hoped) to abstinence from the use of prohibited drugs.
You may fear drugs so much that you want your kids to live like that. I don’t.
In one state, at least, “students do not ‘shed their constitutional rights’ at the schoolhouse door.” What about your state?
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.