"You can look it up" (Drug testing and driving)

by Eric Skidmore

"You can look it up." (The immortal words of Casey Stengel) Could the
fabric of reality be torn asunder by those who deny its existence?

"Marijuana, Driving, and Accident Safety" Gieringer, Dale, Journal of
Psychoactive Drugs Vol. 20(1) Jan-Mar 1988, p. 93-101. Eliminating
marijuana is unlikely to have an appreciable impact on public safety
inasmuch as users are likely to continue using other drugs, notably
alcohol.

"Comparison of the Effects of Marijuana and Alcohol on Simulated Driving
Performance" Crancer, A., Dille,J.M., Delay, J., et al, Science, Vol.
164, May 16, 1969, pp. 851-854. Marijuana Smokers when high performed as
well on a driving simulator test as they did when straight.

"Marijuana and Actual Driving Performance" Robbe, H., O'Hanlon, J.,
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Nov. 1993. No clear
relationship has ever been demonstrated between marijuana smoking and
either seriously impaired driving performance or the risk of accident
involvement...Yet there is little if any evidence to indicate that drivers
who have used marijuana alone are any more likely to cause serious
accidents than drug free drivers. Reveals that actual impairment cannot be
determined by urine or blood testing. (This document is available to the
public from the National Technical Information Service, Springfield,
Virginia 22161) DOT HS 808 078 Final Report--133 pages

"Marijuana Metabolism in the Context of Urine Testing for Cannabinoid
Metabolite" Morgan, John P., Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, Vol. 20(1),
Jan-Mar 1988, pp. 107-115. This costly and not entirely foolproof testing
succeeds only to identify an individual who has probably consumed an
illegal drug within the past two weeks. Urine testing is still a search
for deviance, not dysfunction: a method for surveillance, not a tool for
safety.

"Mandatory Unindicated Urine Drug Screening: Still Chemical McCarthyism"
Lundberg, George D., Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol.
256, No. 21, Dec. 5, 1986. 3003-5. If our society feels that the problems
of drug use are so great as to justify the loss of individual freedoms,
mandatory random drug screening would probably necessitate an amendment to
the Constitution of the United States of America.

"Relation of the Pre-employment Drug Testing Result to Employment Status:
A One-year Follow-up" Parish, David C., Journal of General Internal
Medicine, Vol. 4 (Jan/Feb), 1989. pp. 44-47. Of 180 hospital employees,
22 tested positive for drugs after being hired. There was no difference
between drug-positive and drug-negative employees with respect to
supervisor evaluations or performance. Eleven of the negatives had been
fired during their first year on the job, but none of the positives.

"The 'Scientific' Justification for Urine Drug Testing," John Morgan,
Kansas Law Review, Vol. 36, 1988, pp. 683-697. Disputes the reasons given
to justify invasive urine testing procedures: productivity losses caused
by drug use were based on estimates drawn out of 'thin air,' current drug
use is declining, especially in the workplace, concentration of THC remains
in urine over long periods but does not imply impairment. Drug testing is
not a search for illness but a search for deviance conducted in an
un-American manner. Urine testing is simply drug abuse abuse.

"Routine Urine Testing for Evidence of Drug Abuse in Workers: The
Scientific, Ethical and Legal Reasons Not to Do it." Cullen, M., and
Rosenstock, L., Journal of General Internal Medicine, Vol. 2, (Mar/Apr),
1987. pp. 135-7. Urine testing diverts attention and resources away from
other effective means of prevention of the drug problem as well as from
other more urgent and correctable problems in workplace safety.

"Test Negative: A look at the 'evidence' justifying illicit-drug tests,"
John Horgan, Scientific American, March, 1990, pp. 18-22 The 'evidence'
for drug testing rests largely on exaggerated, distorted and unfounded
claims.

"Postal mortem," John Horgan, Scientific American, February 1991, pp.
22-3.


"Denial is the first sign of addiction. Addiction to an over-reaching,
usurping, Leviathan Government."

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