Pubdate: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 Source: Honolulu Advertiser (HI) Copyright: 2003 The Honolulu Advertiser, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. Contact: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/195 Author: Thomas E. Stuart Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n128/a04.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) RANDOM DRUG TESTING OF TEACHERS NEEDED In his report of legislators' response to Hawai'i's crystal methamphetamine ("ice") epidemic, Advertiser Staff Writer Will Hoover, in the Jan. 26 issue, quotes Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle as saying " ... you've got to identify the people who've got the problem" by way of advocating drug testing in schools. Some years ago, a proposed resolution was introduced at the then-annual HSTA convention in support of drug testing teachers. Naturally, it was voted down decisively by delegates, who thought such a measure might infringe on the fabricated right of privacy -- the one that hid in the "penumbra" of the Constitution for more than a century and a half before it was magically discovered by Justice William O. Douglas in Grisswold vs. Connecticut (1966). If Hawai'i is really going to get serious about drug abuse, I believe now -- as I did when I introduced the resolution -- that random drug testing of teachers is a small but useful measure. Why? Teachers who use dope have no business in a classroom and should be driven out of the profession. The rights of children outweigh make-believe "rights" of adults who should know better. Thomas E. Stuart Kapa'au, Big Island - --- MAP posted-by: Doc-Hawk