It`s about time that someone recognize the potential heavy costs of large-scale drug testing and introduce a sane alternative.
The CDC`s accuracy testing of the nation`s toxicology labs has ranged from 100 percent accuracy (if they were told what was in the sample) to 1 percent accuracy. This level of false positives is enough to falsely accuse thousands of Americans and label them drug users just like we labeled people communists in the `50s.
A sensible answer to our country`s concern over drug use is to suggest the structure where an employee can be asked in confidence if he has used an illicit drug recently. It should be remembered that these people participating in a general screen wouldn`t be showing deficits in their work. By allowing a person to be honest about drug use and by offering the possibility of treatment, this plan can spare the employee the disrespect of being ”found out” and avoid the cruelty of falsely accusing the innocent. Sounds a little like justice, doesn`t it?
