Teachers Just Say No To Drug Tests

摘要

One could argue that some people-painters, fashion models, rock stars-perform better under the influence. But other jobs should go only to the perpetually sober. We don't want our chemical-weapons handlers to be pulling a Michael Phelps on the job, which is why employees in high-risk positions are subjected to random drug tests. But what about people who work in less perilous, if equally unpredictable, environments-say, with kids in public schools? Should teachers be randomly tested too? Yes, says Linda Lingle, GOP governor of Hawaii, where the teachers' union agreed in 2007 to negotiate the terms of a new drug-testing program in exchange for more pay. Now some Hawaii teachers are resisting, citing the cost of the tests to the schools and to their right to privacy. Teacher-testing has also become the subject of recent court cases in North Carolina and West Virginia. But aside from the legal issues, one important question hasn't been addressed so far: Does random drug-testing actually reduce drug use?