The Importance Of Mandatory Drug Testing

Christopher Hitchens once said, “In our time, the symbol of state intrusion into the private life is the mandatory urine test.”(Goodreads) A common misunderstanding is that if you play a sport or participate in extracurricular activities, that you must be using some sort of drug. Professionals can testify that students who don’t participate in activities after school have a higher drug usage than athletes. In reality, these extracurricular activities are keeping these students from using drugs. Why should we invade the privacy of these students who are on the right path? I believe that we should not be drug testing these students in order to maintain their civil rights, save schools money, and not idle away precious time.

There needs to be …show more content…
As human beings, we have rights that should not be ignored. These rights include the right to privacy and the right of being innocent until proven guilty. In an article that debates the issue, the author states, “One of the fundamental features of our legal system is that we are presumed innocent of any wrongdoing unless and until the government proves otherwise.” (Dr Wilda) With these random drug test, these students do not have this right as an option. These drug tests are random and made mandatory. Students should be innocent until they are proven guilty, but are already assumed to be guilty by having to partake in the drug test. It is as if these have no private life and are treated as if they are convicted felons. Our rights are supposed to protect us from unreasonable searches and seizures. Thee students should not be stereotyped because they fall under a certain group. Also, I believe that the student’s parents should get involved. It should not be the school 's responsibility to find out if students are using drugs or not. What happens to those students who make mistakes, or the students who are in the wrong place at the wrong time? For example, a student attends a party and this party has snacks. The student does not even include the thought of a form of drugs even being in their food, but it is. The student consumes this food without a second thought. This student now has drugs in their system. They get drug tested and now they are kicked off a sport for something they did not even know occurred. In another instance, what if a child may have been under some sort of peer pressure, but it was just a one time thing and they never touched it again. The school administration would not understand that, and that student may lose their chances of having a scholarship from athletic. These students should be able to have