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From: arnold@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Ken Arnold%CGL)
Newsgroups: net.misc
Subject: Re: Drug testing
Message-ID: <9861@ucsfcgl.ucsfcgl.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 21-May-86 22:47:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: ucsfcgl.9861
Posted: Wed May 21 22:47:04 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 24-May-86 21:32:58 EDT
References: <1929@ihlpg.UUCP>
Reply-To: arnold@ucsfcgl.UUCP (Ken Arnold%CGL)
Distribution: net
Organization: Computer Graphics Laboratory, UCSF
Lines: 39

In article <1929@ihlpg.UUCP> Debra Spang writes:
>I'm suprised at myself because I was as big an opponent of this drug-
>testing business as anyone until yesterday.  My husband had been laid
>off his job 3 months ago along with 140 others.  They are starting the
>call backs now with the condition that each employee take a physical
>and urine test. My husband is number 92 out of 140 on the list. Part
>of me is furious about this testing thing and most of me hopes a large
>number fail so that his chances of returning increase. The job market
>for factory work is closed and I think that any advantage my husband's
>abstinance gives him is great.  It is easy to moralize but let's be
>practical.  If there is only one job in town and it is between you and
>someone with possibly illegal habits, you probably would welcome a
>test.
>
>A little less left of center,
>debra spang

You changed your belief on what is right and just because of how it
benefits you today?  I can sympathize with your plight, but are you
really saying that you think that drug testing is good because it might
help your husband get a job?

This is so trite I can't believe I'm saying it, but the streets are
safer in Moscow than they are here, primarily because nobody expects to
get a fair trial, which has the side effect of letting some guilty
people go free, and it is harder to investigate a crime if you have to
respect people's rights.  Does this change your idea of what is right?

Practicality has its place, but principles do, too.

>If there is only one job in town and it is between you and
>someone with possibly illegal habits, you probably would welcome a
>test.

I wouldn't.  I drive over 55.  Do you?  I wager on sports events with
my friends.  Do you?  If you don't, would you be happy to see people
who did rejected from rehiring?

		Ken Arnold