Last updated : December 16, 2024
We recently received a barrage of hate mail from several drug users who were upset that we provide drug testing services for employers throughout Ohio.
(Spoiler alert…)
As you might imagine, a lot of it was incoherent rambling. There was no shortage of expletives, and their claims were factually incorrect.
For example, some were content to call us colorful names. Others suggested that we kill ourselves, and a few of the more egregious offenders compared drug testing services to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo.
In reality, the Nazis actually promoted drug use—particularly opiates and methamphetamines, but since most drug users didn’t stay awake during history class, we’ll leave that detail for another day.
Here is what drug users need to understand about drug testing:
Drug testing is not a violation of your “rights”
If you’re going to cite the Constitution, please understand what it means first. Those who claim drug testing violates their rights are talking about the 4th Amendment (even if they didn’t know that), which reads as such:
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, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
In other words, the GOVERNMENT can not require that you take a drug test for no reason, however, as a condition of employment (or continued employment), any employer is well within their rights to require a drug test. It is a part of a contract between two parties—the employer and the employee.
If XYZ Corporation requires their employees to take a drug test, and you feel that is a violation of your privacy, no problem—you can get a job somewhere else. If you can’t find a job you’re satisfied with that doesn’t require drug testing, perhaps that tells you something.
The individuals who choose to take drugs, claiming it’s their body to do with as they please contradict themselves when they assert that a business owner should have no right to choose who they employ. If you can choose to use drugs because it’s your body shouldn’t an employer be able to choose not to hire drug addicts because it’s his or her company?
Should a business owner be liable for the damage, injuries, and lost productivity caused by drug users?
If you truly believe it’s no one’s business what you put into your body, would you send your children to school with a teacher who was high all day? Would you encourage your heart surgeon to take a few hits before going into the operating room? Or would you board an aircraft with marijuana smoke billowing out of the cockpit like a Cheech and Chong remake?
Drug testing isn’t even about the drug user
The bottom line is that drug testing isn’t about the drug user at all. It’s about keeping everyone else safer. We will continue helping our clients maintain happier, safer, and more productive workplaces by keeping drugs out. And for those trying to quit drugs, we even provide referrals to local treatment programs or counselors.
You see, it’s not about bringing the drug user down, it’s about bringing everyone (including the drug user) up.
That is what drug users need to understand about drug testing.
