Should teachers take drug tests?

From the original article....

He did not go so far as requiring drug tests for teachers, but the district plans to dispatch drug-sniffing dogs to all 300 or so schools to search employee parking lots..

Is this a better alternative to actual pee in the cup type drug testing?
Would it only effect the teachers who imbibe just before the start of class or who use while at school? Would this be a reasonable compromise?

Originally posted by Flighty
Marijuana and other illicit drugs are ILLEGAL.

Therefore, Teachers should be tested to make sure they aren't, firstly breaking the law.
And secondly, that they don't have high levels still in their system that can effect their teaching abilities in the classroom.

Don't have high levels? Of what?

Let's bear in mind a drug is (supposed to be) a substance which changes the way the body or mind works.

Urine testing for cannabis DOES NOT test for drugs. If you believe this, you have been fooled.

They will fool you by saying they are testing for "THC". THC is not a substance. It is a group of substances. They rely heavily on you not knowing this, so they can deceive you.

The active ingredient in this group is "delta-9-THC". This is what affects you, and is what they should be testing for. Your body will eventually break this down, and create the inactive metabolite "delta-9-carboxy-THC". This substance is what they screen for (read the drug test results). It has no effect on the mind or body whatsoever, and therefore doesn't even meet the definition of the word "drug". This is the substance that can stay in the body for up to a couple of months, so is ideal in finding out what you do in your own time.

The Australian standard states if you have more than 15 micrograms per litre, you are "unfit for work". How can you be "unfit for work" if the substance does nothing?!

The medical industry with their snake logo are just that. Snakes.

All they do is deceive.

Originally posted by Flighty
Is this a better alternative to actual pee in the cup type drug testing?

Anything that actually looks for drugs is better than that.

[edit on 27/1/09 by NuclearPaul]

Originally posted by Chucktah


Is there any kind of test that does that? If there is, what is keeping it from being mainstreamed? Money, politics....money! There's big dollars in the insurance buisness.

Yes its called a blood test or a saliva test. Its what they do if you are in a vehicular accident while on a run on a Fire Dept. or Police. We dont get urine tested in most cases because it only shows what you did on your OWN time, not what is happening on a job.

Either one of these tests will in most cases show if you are under the influence during work time. Wake up people your privacy is being stomped on HARD with a urine test. A saliva swab will tell if you have used drugs in the past 12 hours to a few days for cannabis. A urine test will only tell if you smoked it within the past few months but CANNOT tell if you are under the influence.

Its time to wake up America, they have looted us dry, taken us to war, take our homes and yet want you to let an employer know when you smoked pot last and NOTHING else because most other drugs go away within 24-48 hours. They do this because they are afraid of cannabis because it makes people think hmmm something is wrong and inhuman the way the world works and I want change. They understand most that want to smoke cannabis will ignore the law because it is wrong...just like slavery was wrong.

The only option left to control it is to make it so you cannot get a job to survive if you smoke pot.

Everyone its time to take our freedom and privacy back.

Originally posted by Chucktah
That's the thing about teachers that I don't think many people realize. The should be held in that regard. Put up there with the heros our children look up to. If you sit back and think about it, for 8-9 months out of the year, teachers spend almost as much time with our kids as we do. We should hold them to a much higher standard than we do now. Also like someone mentioned earlier, they should get more respect and higher pay for the job they do.

Read my above post. We get blood tested and saliva tested only if we screw up.

In your world after I get through the day and have just tried to save a three year old girl with a fracture to the c-2 and is paralyzed from the neck down, the mother with multiple compound fractures to both femurs and screamed so loud and horribly when we backboarded her from the vehicle to the gurney it made my ears ring for the rest of the day, I have no choice but to drink alcohol? The drug that created the accident in the first place? The one that can make a sane man beat his wife?

Screw that, I would rather quit and let there be one less person that can save your life out there. Firefighters and cops quit quite often after dealing with children in a car accident or structure fire...sometimes a joint is my ONLY escape after I see, smell, feel and touch a horror show. It helps keep my sanity and keeps me on the job saving lives.

DAMN IGNORANCE TO HELL!

Originally posted by LoneGunMan

Originally posted by Chucktah
That's the thing about teachers that I don't think many people realize. The should be held in that regard. Put up there with the heros our children look up to. If you sit back and think about it, for 8-9 months out of the year, teachers spend almost as much time with our kids as we do. We should hold them to a much higher standard than we do now. Also like someone mentioned earlier, they should get more respect and higher pay for the job they do.

Read my above post. We get blood tested and saliva tested only if we screw up.

In your world after I get through the day and have just tried to save a three year old girl with a fracture to the c-2 and is paralyzed from the neck down, the mother with multiple compound fractures to both femurs and screamed so loud and horribly when we backboarded her from the vehicle to the gurney it made my ears ring for the rest of the day, I have no choice but to drink alcohol? The drug that created the accident in the first place? The one that can make a sane man beat his wife?

Screw that, I would rather quit and let there be one less person that can save your life out there. Firefighters and cops quit quite often after dealing with children in a car accident or structure fire...sometimes a joint is my ONLY escape after I see, smell, feel and touch a horror show. It helps keep my sanity and keeps me on the job saving lives.

DAMN IGNORANCE TO HELL!

Well said! Thanks for saving lives. Afterall, man made beer, god made weed. Who do you trust?

Thats the "religious" arguement for cannibis ingestion.

Originally posted by Flighty
From the original article....

He did not go so far as requiring drug tests for teachers, but the district plans to dispatch drug-sniffing dogs to all 300 or so schools to search employee parking lots..

Is this a better alternative to actual pee in the cup type drug testing?
Would it only effect the teachers who imbibe just before the start of class or who use while at school? Would this be a reasonable compromise?

Now this is a good idea. It keeps the drug off of the public property which is the whole point of a drug free school. No stash in my car.

I would hate to think how my life would be forever changed if I attended a concert, inhaled second hand smoke, tested positive and lost a career over it.
I know a superintendent of a school corporation who attended a concert and exclaimed pot, smell, and smoke was all over the place. I wonder how he would react after testing positive?

Oh and never forget our current President of the United States admitted to the world he smoked pot and inhaled frequently.

Hmmm now watch and listen to these people, this person, in charge of OUR ENTIRE COUNTRY's SECURITY, not just our children, admit to smoking pot.

Obama and other canidates smoked pot...and he also states he belives marijuana should be decriminalized.

Again, teachers don't need to be tested anymore than the leader of the free world for the use of a plant.

N'uff said!

[edit on 10/30/2007 by Swing Dangler sp]

[edit on 10/30/2007 by Swing Dangler]

leave the teachers alone!

reply to post by LoneGunMan


Thank you for sharing that story LoneGunMan. It takes a strong person to do what you do. I think that people in this type of job should be required to use THC. Hell, I remember being told by my boss around 1986 to go out and party because of my attitude. They push alcohol and yet it is one of the leading causes of deaths and sickness. Lead to an ulcer for me.

It just goes to show you the evils of alcohol and how they push it to destroy us. They know the benefits of THC, the doctors and politicians; which is evident by the video SwingDangler provided.

Rgds

An earlier poster said something about how drugs can 'effect' a teacher's ability to do their job.

Well, I'm a teacher - I'm currently inbibing drugs as I tap away on my crackberry (another 'drug). Alcohol. Lots of it. In the pub, and guess what?

I still know the difference between 'effect' and 'affect' which is the word I think you meant use.

I know it's an ad hominem argument, but I don't care, coz I'm on drugs!

Hope my point comes across.

Peace

MGGG

No one should be drug screened pre-employment. It is a violation of privacy and an illegal search. This county was founded on "innocent until proven guilty", yet we require NEARLY EVERYONE to prove their innocence before they are allowed to work.

edit to erase double post...

[edit on 1/28/2009 by cautiouslypessimistic]

I think drug testing students (Unless participating in athletic activities) & teachers are both ridiculous. However, I think if anything, the teachers should be tested before the student should. They're in charge, responsible for their education and well being while in school. But I vote - neither.

what is it with Americans and this idiotic drug testing carry-on? Who cares what people do in their spare time? No employer has the right to dictate what people do with their own bodies. If someone does their job properly that should be enough, we shouldnt have to answer to this kind of bull#, I suppose you think someone who smokes the occasional joint is incapable of teaching or driving a truck or whatever? Thats just insulting, and anyone who agrees with this drug test nonsense is basically just a facist ignoramous. I wish people would stop condoning this kind of witch-hunt, the same people who bang on and on about freedom and liberty are the ones trying to tell others what they can or cant do in their own free time.

reply to post by Chucktah


If our teachers aren't high, how can they put up with our children?

just kidding. Sort of.

Originally posted by logician magician
If you want to be employed by a company, then you'll agree to take their drug test if they require one. If you don't agree to the hiring requirements then you can find work somewhere else.

What happens when the insurance companies force all companies to do it? If they want to remain competitive and have the "discounted insurance", they will not have a choice. You will not have the option of finding work some place else.

Eventually, we will all be forced to p*** in a cup. And in return, we will be granted the right to live on the planet we were born on.

Some members of society should be held to a higher standard. Anyone who stands a model for others should represent the epitome. I am a teacher. I don't mind proving myself with a drug test. I have taught with teachers in the past that came to work so high they couldn't park straight, much less carry on a coherent conversation. I don't know many parents who would appreciate their children spending the day with a wasted drug addict.

Originally posted by veterator
I have taught with teachers in the past that came to work so high they couldn't park straight, much less carry on a coherent conversation. I don't know many parents who would appreciate their children spending the day with a wasted drug addict.

Ok you are a teacher then why can you not think for yourself? Teachers like you should be fired for teaching our kids not to think for themselves.

Who said anything about condoning someone doing any drug on the job? Even if most are talking about an herb not a drug, a drug would be a concentrated bi-product of the herb in the first place. Anyway we are talking about someone using a substance in their own time not on the job. If they are wasted on the job they should then be drug tested and fired because they have crossed the line.

You should seriously think about taking up truck driving and stop indoctrination our children in you non-critical thinking. In fact you are not thinking at all. Og and before you repeat the corporate mind-think I am NOT talking about teaching kids drug use is fine on your own time, I understand they are children. I am only talking about your way of not thinking for yourself and just repeating what the machine wants yopu to think.

Like this: I dont want an airline pilot flying high, or my Doctor or my whatever. Well duh. Neither does ANYONE else on the planet! We are talking about what you do in your free time.

reply to post by LoneGunMan


In veterator defense, this thread started with the fact that there is that chance that teachers can come in to class high, or drunk, or recovering or whatever. I've seen a lot of post saying that IF the teacher gets caught coming to work intoxicated, then action should be taken. What about if they don't get caught. Then what. Just because no one noticed alcohol on the breath, or bloodshot eyes, that teacher should be fine left alone with 20 or so kids all day? I could care less if an alcoholic is the best teacher in the world, all it takes is one slip up and children can get hurt, the school gets sued, people, not just the teacher, lose their jobs. Is it worth it? I didn't begin this thread as an attack on peoples right to smoke weed at home, all I'm saying is that without the chance of being caught, it'll be too late. Would you rather have a guard at the door each morning checking each teacher as they entered the school? Teachers should be held to a higher standard than truck drivers. Like I said earlier, all it takes is one time. Then everyone will be asking what could have been done to stop it.

Smoke weed on your own time that's fine, I've done plenty of it, but when I had a son at 22 years old, I stopped. Now I have a lot more to worry about than getting high. Teachers should have to think about it as well.

Originally posted by Chucktah
Would you rather have a guard at the door each morning checking each teacher as they entered the school? Teachers should be held to a higher standard than truck drivers. Like I said earlier, all it takes is one time. Then everyone will be asking what could have been done to stop it.

NO you have checks and balances through performance and the quality of the teachers ability to teach. Also if you have a teacher that gives off signs of teaching content that is not of our childrens best interest.

Where do you stop in preemptive judgment? What their sexual preferences are? Political beliefs? What they eat?

Innocent until proven guilty has worked quite well, the problems we have for the most part lately is preemptive attacks, it seems to be all the rage.