In a town named Vernonia, Oregon, the local public schools faced a major problem regarding the drug use of students while participating in high school athletics (3). The Vernonia School Board were disturbed that drug use increases the risk of sports-related injury (4), so they approved an anti-drug policy, the Student Athlete Drug Policy, which requires random drug testing of the school’s student athletes (5). However, this became a conflict with the parents of a child named James Acton. The parents refused to sign a consent form to allow their kid to take the drug test because they felt it went against the 4th Amendment’s prohibition against “unreasonable” searches (6). The case was dismissed in the Federal District Court and was appealed to the Court of Appeals for the 9th District (7). This court favored the Acton families’ complaint, but random drug testing in public schools was ruled allowable in 1988 in Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin (8). The case went on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to conclude conflicting court decisions (9).…
As children, many people are introduced to the famous quote by late National Football League coach, Vince Lombardi, which is "winning isn 't everything; it 's the only thing" (Voy 204). Sports have always been about winning; however, some professional and amateur athletes take this simple saying too literally and it changes their outlook on their profession. As high school and even middle school athletes, they start to take drugs in order to be accepted, or to better their performance on the playing field (Louria n.pag). Once theses athletes reach the college level; they experiment, and are surrounded by even more drugs in order to get any advantage. It is not fair that one athlete can work hard in order to improve his performance, but then have another athlete improve more than him due to being wired on cocaine or bulked up on steroids. Also, Robert Voy states that drug use today is the biggest threat to the Olympics ideal, thus the Olympics and many other professional organizations are turning to drug testing. Testing is a huge controversy today because many believe that it violates one 's right of privacy; however, if there is no testing, many athletes will continue to have an unfair advantage to non drug users (180). Furthermore, it injures the user because it will result in mood changes, and it will hurt their health, if not immediately, then it will later on in their life. The chance of being caught using drugs is so small compared to the achievements one will have while using drugs which is so vast. No athlete should have an unfair advantage, these advantages only promote drug use, which many athletes believe it is a necessary means in today 's time. The only way to have the use of drugs decrease is to have mandatory drug testing across the board for all athletes.…
The first one is that if they get drug tested it increases their chances in going to college(designwall). If you don’t pass then colleges won’t want. Then you won’t get a very good paying job or a job you would want.…
As for the pros of the required drug testing, there are quite a few to take into consideration. The first pro to consider is that it’s not fair to the tax payers to have to pay for others’ drug addictions. For all the tax payers in the world, all the taxes we pay out of our paychecks, pockets, etc. go to the government. This money then in turn goes to things such as paying schools, funding clubs, and more importantly, to support those persons seeking welfare. It’s not fair to those tax payers if in fact those people on or seeking welfare are stuck in an addiction and use the welfare money to support their habit. Tax payers are obviously working to earn their money, so why should they have to work to pay off the habits of the people who are too lazy…
The main goal for most athletes is to get to the highest level of their sport and to get there you need to start practicing you skills early and have dedication. Some athletes use performance-enhancing drugs like steroids to help them get to that level. It’s becoming a problem to the point that people in high school are starting to use drugs; since there is no drug testing for high school athletics, they get away with using these drugs without fear of the consequences. The students that do take advantage of not dealing with drug testing are going to have an edge over their peers who are more concerned with their future health and are trying to make it with hard work and dedication. To some people the future risks aren’t as important as making it to the show so they see no problem in putting thing into their bodies.…
For countless years, students have been drug tested, while teachers remain un-involved. Although teachers can request at any time that a student get drug tested, students are unable to request for teachers to be tested. People may believe that a teacher should not be tested, but they have just as much access, if not more, to drugs as students do. Therefore; drug testing should be required for teachers. Besides the biological parents, teachers have a powerful influence over students. If a person is going to have a career that molds the teens in our society, regardless of whatever opinion the teacher may have about marijuana or heroin, he or she should ensue the rules that have been provided by our government.…
“[Drug testing] may make drug users less willing to disclose and therefore keep them from connecting with treatment…’If people are afraid they’ll lose their benefits if they admit to using drugs, it makes it hard for them to say, ‘Hey, actually I have this issue,’ (ThinkProgress)…
6. Companies have the right to do what they wish, and if they decide to invest their own money into drug testing their own employees, there is no wrong in…
The issue of mandatory drug testing for certain jobs is perplexing and a complicated topic. After hearing both sides of the debate presented in class, I feel that drug testing for certain jobs is a beneficial aspect to incorporate into the workplace. I feel this way due to the potential that testing for drugs in certain jobs such as healthcare, government officials, law enforcement and other occupations that involve decisions that can directly impact the lives of others, has on removing harmful individuals from positions of power and the direct influence that testing has on those individuals to avoid drugs while working.…
They should be tested every other week or at least once a month. Some might argue that it is an invasion of privacy, but in reality they are just afraid of being caught for doing illegal activities. For one, the consumption of alcohol is illegal for minors, and all high school students are under age. Secondly, athletes represent the school they play for, and they don’t want to be know as the guy or girl that got blacked out drunk the sunday before the game. And last but not least, taking drugs can have an immense negative impact on the student's health. According to, the illustration–How Drugs Affect Sport Performance–on Richard L. Worsnop article it states that although Amphetamines can, “[h]eighten alertness and postpones onset of fatigue,” it can result in long term consequences like, “[f]eelings of anxiety and restlessness, accompanied by rapid heartbeat and breathing; [and] risk of addiction.” Many of drugs taken have similar effect on the body, it enhances the athletes performances, they recover faster, and even let them gain muscle mass, etc. On the other hand, they all have worse long term effects then the temporary effect they athletes do them for. For example, Beta-blockers can cause asthma, erythropoietin can result in a stroke or heart attack, while steroids can cause liver and heart disease, and even sterility (Worsnop). Four year varsity basketball player, Kristopher Nicolas states, “I personally have never taken drugs, but I know of teammates that have. I believe that if one truly loves the sport than they don’t any enhancements to be better at it, it has to come from one's inner motivation. A good pep talk before the game is more than enough to motivate me.” Besides the fact, that alcohol and drug use can have a serious impact on one's health, drugs are illegal, and any student caught should not be allowed to part of a…
Government assistance is good for those people who don’t abuse it and are willing to follow the rules no matter how silly or degrading they may seem. Random drug testing is not meant to hurt people or make them feel degraded it’s only to eliminate those who abuse the assistance and help others who really need the help. Many people support random drug testing and believe there is nothing wrong with the government wanting to do…
Anyone willing to apply for a job or joining the military is subject to random drug tests. Anyone that works and pays taxes helps the welfare system. The reason testing could be justified would be how much fraud is generally found each year alone without drug testing and just by reasonable suspecion. “The Office of Inspector General (OIG) identified $16.67 million in fraud during Fiscal Year (FY)2011 within multiple Michigan public assistance program areas” (michigan.gov). Drug testing would save the government money and help distribute the benefits more to those who actually need…
Among the main points of controversy for this issue is that the American Civil Liberties Union argues that it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, saying the law constituted an “unreasonable search and seizure” by the government. (Sulzberger) Advocates for the poor say the testing policies single out and vilify victims of the recession, disputing the idea that people on welfare are more likely to use drugs. I expect the average working; tax paying citizen would disagree with the notion that drug testing is a violation of any rights. Especially since most of these individuals had to undergo a drug test to get the job that that in turn helps to pay for federal assistance programs.…
Without suspicion of drug use, schools cannot require drug tests of athletes, because it violates their Fourth Amendment right. According to the US Bill Of Rights: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.” (Cayton). This means that you need probable cause or suspicion of drug use before you can require a drug test of someone. School athletes should not be subject to unjust searches based on non-existent evidence. The searches would be both unlawful and unreasonable thus making the policy unconstitutional. Nevertheless, there are many people who oppose this policy, and believe that student-athlete drug testing is needed to protect the common good and ensure the safety of everyone (Mikula). However, no policy should be able to violate the constitution and infringe on the student’s privacy. An example of this is from a court case involving a Texas School District. The Texas School argued that they needed a policy to test student-athletes for drugs to help control the “drug crisis” going on at their school.…
The NCAA can also prove that there is effectiveness behind the program. Positive tests have hovered around one percent mark for several years now. Since most students know about the test well in advanced it gives them a chance to get the illegal substances out of their body, but NCAA has started to do random drug testing that can catch those athletes. The association will spend more around three million dollars on drug testing. College athletes will take supplements to mask the use of steroids, so a laboratory in California is working to find different kind of supplements that will mask steroids so drug test can also pick them up. “Athletes frequently use supplements as a masking of real steroids, and it normally backfires,” says Gary…