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Headlines : War on DrugsDrug Test Nation
As one of the U.S. Government’s strongest weapons and supporters for the War on Drugs, the drug testing industry is expanding its technological capabilities to detect illegal substances not only in the workplace (and schools), but quite possibly at “random roadside drug testing checkpoints” near you.
As Paul Armentano of NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) explains, despite the concerns of serious flaws and limitations of these new technologies, the lobbying power wielded by this Drug War industry could ultimately pave the way for new avenues of inspection – and criminalization.
[Posted By Namaste_Rich]Republished from reasononline
One look at the Cozart RapiScan, a self-proclaimed complete “on-site oral fluid drugs of abuse diagnostic system,” and it’s obvious: This isn’t your parents’ drug test. Gone are the golden days of the plastic collection cup. The Cozart saliva testing system comes in a spiffy silver suitcase and consists of an oral fluid collection swab, a disposable test cartridge, its own handheld digital computer, and a portable printer “for a permanent record of test results.”
The official U.S. distributor of the RapiScan, The Dominion Diagnostics Corporation, was one of many hi-tech exhibitors hawking their wares in Tampa last spring at a meeting of corporate drug testers, toxicologists and law enforcement officers, sponsored, in part, by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (a.k.a. the Drug Czar’s office). But this White House–backed gathering was no trade show. The purpose of this symposium—and the intent of the bodily fluid snoopers in attendance—was to call for an unprecedented, government-mandated expansion of both drug testing and the application of new drug screening technology—and not just for those within the workplace. And the pee police may be close to getting their wish.
Random drug testing in the workplace rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1980s, embodying the…
Posted by Namaste_Rich
These people don’t know what their asking for… your going to have urine mobs marching on road blocks, holding down police and pissing on them, and in their cars, on the car’s air vents, etc… let the games begin.
The more they push, the more we push back. The more we push back, the more visible we become. The more visible we become, the sooner change will happen.
The power lies with us.
I’ll piss on your dead skull… but seriously how can progressive thinkers continue to exist in this society? I suppose that’s the point. I think we have to ask ourselves if it’s worth it anymore. Is it worth it to fight for things that would pit most of the population against you, ideologically? Obviously many people would support such measures to put more casual drug users behind bars while the rest of the country is doped up on oxycontin and friggin zelnorm or worse dead because the pharmaceutical co’s didn’t tell you a side effect was actual death. I understand the fight for one’s rights, but at what cost? Indefinite imprisonment?
“Is it worth it to fight for things that would pit most of the population against you, ideologically?”
Beast, was it worth it for Dr. Martin Luther King? What about Rosa Parks who bravely sat at the front of the bus that faithful day in Montgomery, Ala? That one act of protest, of knowing the truth in your heart and acting on it! It galvanized the Civil Rights Revolution. What price would you “pay” not to be discriminated against? Not to be treated guilty until proven innocent? When will we say, emphatically, “enough is enough”!
Slinger is right, we are becoming visible. All it requires is a unified voice, that refuses to back down. King didn’t back down in the face of ignorance and power.
Neither should we.