European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                10 the stars and stripes monday. December 29,1986columns James j. Kilpatrick guidelines for drug testing make Good sense 11 in capital is in the midst of one of its ski is falling haps. This has nothing 1o a with the israelis. Inc Irani ans and the contras in that dismaying affair great chunks of firmament in fact Are raining Down. This Flap has to do with new guidelines for the drug testing of Federal employees. The guidelines make Good sense to me bul they have provoked some Terri ble hollering from Union spokesmen find area politicians. Rep. Frank k. Wolf r Vii termed it unfair to single out fed eral workers when there is no reason to believe they use prohibited drugs to any greater degree than workers in the Pri vate sector. Various court Challenge arc promised. Can examination the guidelines Are not As frightening As the Washington Post would have us believe i the rules Are sensibly followed no Federal employee will be fired without cause. No one s civil rights will be grossly abused. About All that will happen is that a handful of confirmed addies will be routed from truly sensitive positions and what is wrong Wuh that tie guidelines require Agency Heads to determine which of their employers Are in sensitive jobs. Technically speak ing about half of the government s 2.1 million employees have positions thai in some Way Are special sensitive critical sensitive or non critical sensitive Hill Only a Small fraction of these employees will he included in a Pool subject in test ing. Who Are these worker the Pool May include positions where National Security considerations Are present As Well As positions where there is a Clear Impact on Public health or safety . Air traffic controllers operators of motor vehicles medical nursing and related health care personnel or positions relat ing to illegal drug control . Law enforcement officers such As customs agents and drug enforcement agents the guidelines provide other exam Ples. Those who work on aircraft maintenance May be tested. Those who work with explosives or toxic gases May be covered. The rules would affect employees uniquely positioned to exploit highly sensitive computer or financial data for financial  it is balding to understand the reasoning of those who object to testing such governmental employees the tests once they have been decided upon must Carl Rowan be announced w Days in Advance. Be fore anyone is fired a positive test Musl he confirmed ural outright dismissal is a last resort that presumably would he reserved for those who flatly refuse to be tested or those whose addiction cannot he tolerated. In any cd Cal. An employee in the civil service has abundant avenues of Appeal against termination or other discipline. Arc these procedures unjust unreasonable .1 they strike me As fully within inc government s Power As an employer. Surely the government has a right to in Sist Thiu its own employees obey Federal Laws and Possession of an illicit drug is Fol Oul against Federal Law. The of sense is not to he equated with u parking lag or a speeding ticket. We Are talking of mind altering drugs of addictive drugs of heroin cocaine and crack. It is complained that drug testing turns the Law on its head that workers arc presumed guilty until proved inno a Cal. This is hokum. The program has nothing to do with criminal Law. It has everything to do with condition of fed eral employment in especially sensitive positions. No one is compelled to work for the government. It s a free country. Hut Federal employment is a privilege. Not a right. I keep coming Back to the analogy of air travel. More than 100 million persons Board commercial air planes every your. Every one of them has to go through a Security Check before passing through a Gate. This often involves opening a suit Case or ,1 purse Security guards have authority to rummage at will in a traveler s most personal belongings. Is this intrusive of course it is but it is a reasonable condition of air transportation f you Don t like it. Take a train or go by bus. No one is compelled to Fly. The Henny pennies who Are complaining us hysterically about Icse guidelines Start with a paranoid Assumption. They assume that Federal depart ment Heads Are modern Day torque a Das drooling with eagerness to examine everybody s urine. Somewhere in the vast Fields of Federal employment such fiendish Bosses May be in charge. Some abuses of the guidelines May occur. But True abuses of disciplinary Power will be few and inc gain to Good government will be substantial. I d try the program for a few years and see if it s the sky that is falling or Only a couple of acorns. A or intr 501 plus  your or Ujkic decoder Rifle for de. Meese speeches mandatory drug fess trample on civil liberties thank you. Lord for giving judicial courage to . District judge Robert Collins of new Orleans. For in declaring mandatory urine testing of customs service employees unconstitutional this judge has taken a giant step toward saving us from a monster thai i helped Ercale for almost a decade in this column in the Reader s digest on television i have cried for a National War against the criminals the vermin who foist cocaine heroin and other illegal drugs upon our children. Bul i never dreamed that i was helping to create a fran in to overwhelm the Constitution to wipe out the Bill of r Oghli. In the name of making America d Rug free. In recent weeks Federal agencies thinking they were meeting the will of the while House and the american people have imposed several draconian measures of dubious constitutionality. The customs service spurred by its mandate and failure to Stem the flow of illicit drugs into America declared that no one could gel a Job there without consenting to a urine test or stay there once employed if a urine lest indicated drug abuse judge Collins said the customs service s drug test ing program is a degrading procedure that so detracts from human dignity and self respect that it shocks the conscience and offends inc court s i enc of  he said thai the customs service program violated 4th amendment constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure self incrimination and in Vasion of privacy. He said that warrant less searches do not fall under personnel actions. La is unconstitutional to condition Public employment on consent to an unconstitutional  with those words judge Collins protected you and me not just from drug paddlers but from All the predators zeroing in on personal Liberty since inc beginning of governments. In Case you think mandatory peeing into a Dixie cup is no violation of your rights your privacy since you never abused drugs let me Tell you what corporate or government sleuths can find out about you just by getting a Sample of your urine. The director of one of the Best laboratories in this area told me that not Only will your urine disclose whether you use marijuana cocaine heroin and other drugs but also the alcohol in your system. Thai office lest will reveal whether a woman employee is pregnant perhaps prompting those gossips who Roll the Dixie cups Down corridors to sing Jan is pregnant does t show in husband Lover they Don t know in the sugar and clones in your urine can suggest thai you Are a diabetic. Blood in your urine raises other alarms. An employer May say dump that person so my insurance Rales Don t go  urine tests will Tell whether a male employee ejaculated the night before raising All sorts of questions by those whose business it is not Aslo where How and with whom the ejaculation look place. That Little cup of urine can even Alert people to whom you would never talk about your health to the possibility thai you have kidney disease or a liver problem. I want with at my heart and mind to find ways to Stop this curse of drug abuse in America. But there must be some Way better than trampling Over the Constitution and the Bill of frights. Again. I applaud judge Robert Collins for having the guts to insist hat we find another Way