ALT-1 Is Drug Testing an Invasion of Privacy
I understand the "slippery slope" concept. People hang on to the idea of "privacy" because they fear if you allow for drug testing, then the next step is people being dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night, never to be heard from again. The concept of "liberty" is also thrown out on a regular basis to fight against drug testing, because we feel as Americans that we should have the freedom to smoke anything we want, particularly in the confines of our own home.
Tell me the truth
It is this kind of attitude that makes some people very concerned about drug testing. Anything that is new and exposes a person to something personal is automatically considered a heinous invasion of privacy. On the one hand I do understand the slippery slope concern. If drug testing becomes a normal part of employer rules, then why not a polygraph test? What would happen if your boss strapped you in a chair, hooked you up to a machine, and started asking you questions about your attitude towards him and the company?
Smoking joints on the weekends
Of course, the other issue with drug testing is personal choices and lifestyle. In other words, what do people have to hide? Granted, cultural relativism has shifted to the point where some illegal drugs are widely considered acceptable for recreational use. There is also the justification for some people between work and home. For example, if people choose to smoke pot on Saturday night but are off their high on Monday morning, they might feel that their social choices and their work environment are still separate. However, if they took a drug test Monday morning, chances are the drugs would still be in their system.
In some ways, drug testing is just another form of scrutiny. As it is, some jobs do background checks and require fingerprints. In addition, most jobs check references and all jobs have some set of in-house rules regarding employee behavior. Therefore, drug testing may seem invasive to some, but in theory it isn't necessarily much different than uniforms, non-fraternization, use of company resources, and organizational culture.
