Pubdate: Tue, 08 May 2012
Source: Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL)
Copyright: 2012 News-Journal Corporation
Contact:  http://www.news-journalonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/700
Note: gives priority to local writers
Author: Michael H. Katz

AN INVASION OF PRIVACY

This is in response to the May 1 letter, "Drug tests make sense." 
Contrary to the writer's assertion, "common sense" is not a 
compelling reason to infringe on individual liberties without cause. 
Furthermore, drug testing without cause (i.e. random or 
pre-employment drug screening) is a flagrant violation of a person's 
privacy and, in the case of a government entity conducting such 
tests, a person's constitutional rights.

The writer attempts to make his case by giving a hypothetical example 
of a county worker having an accident in a county vehicle while on drugs.

In such a situation, the county might well be on the hook for a large 
sum of money, as he says. Is the writer trying to say that drug 
testing of county employees will save the county money? If it came 
down to a choice between saving the county money or preserving 
constitutionally guaranteed individual freedom, I will keep my freedom.

The writer reiterates a common platitude among the proponents of drug 
testing, saying that if you don't use drugs, you have nothing to 
fear. Those who think that way couldn't be more wrong. Everyone 
should be very fearful of the dangerous precedent set by drug 
testing, as it reduces a person's reasonable expectation of privacy, 
and brings America closer to being a police state.

To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, "Those who would give up an 
essential liberty in exchange for security deserve neither, and will 
probably lose both."

MICHAEL H. KATZ, Port Orange
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom