do you feel about the issue of uh random or spot drug testing
well i'm i'm for it based upon my experience uh in taking
uh drug tests my uh my past experience in the military
um-hum
plus uh my current occupation working uh for a defense contractor here in Massachusetts
uh i feel that it's uh
there is some opinions whereas the uh uh people of the mind that uh it's a right to privacy that
you know it's a it's a bodily function involved and that um
um people should have a right to protect themselves and so forth but i don't agree i think that
um it's important particularly for some jobs and some jog occupations job occupations
that um people can be screened for uh should be screens for uh for drugs through uh drug testing
yeah i i tend to believe that that it's it's important for those jobs where uh
where the the person has the safety of other people uh in their own hands or within their control then i think it should be mandatory
um-hum
you know the the airline industry the transportation industry um you know the uh
right
the defense and military you know any any application like that i think it should be mandatory
yeah
so i think we're in agreement that that uh uh that it's a good uh it's a good idea in some circumstances the one reservation i have though in that from my experience i've taken many urinalysis many drug tests
right
um-hum
some of them random some of them um scheduled
uh and every time you take one of those tests you know when you're submitting a sample
yeah
there's always in the back of your mind well how are you know people conducting the test
the labs that are performing the test how adequate uh are those facilities and uh is is always it is it always a chance i know that what they call um the i think it's called the chain of custody
right
of the uh the specimens themselves i know in the military in the military particularly they there's a they go to great lengths at protecting the samples before they get to the labs
um-hum
right
but my concern is and i think that that that what needs to be further investigated
is the uh the standardization and to have some hundred percent insurance that the test that's given
uh the the the lab that performs the uh the analysis is uh validated in some way you know some standardization because i've heard some horror stories
right
you know
yeah you you you know you can easily envision the one one mistake could you know ruin a a career that couldn't be uh you know couldn't be resurrected
Sixty Minutes did an article on this whole subject subject a few uh a few years ago and there was a Air Force Captain
who uh you know took the test and it came up positive and the guy swore on a stack of bibles
yeah
now in the military for a for a staff staff NCO which is a a noncommissioned officer but it's a certain rank above i don't know if you're familiar with military military rank structure
no
it's a it's a high level of enlisted personnel and officers for those people who show up positive on one drug test they're immediately discharged
yeah
now for certain ranks and below like sergeant and below if you're found positive or come up dirty in a drug on a on a drug test
yeah
you can be reduced in rank forfeit your pay or if it's a repeat repeat offense uh offense
yeah
then they can discharge you
but there's this Army this this
Air Force Captain he swore up and down that he didn't do anything
right
and they went back and you know few months later to try to investigate the lab and the sample that he had given was destroyed
yeah
right
so i i think you got to be careful with stuff like that that's that's my only concern about the whole issue i think
huh
yeah definitely
yeah i don't really feel like you know for any any of the
just routine jobs that people should be subject to that kind of invasion of privacy
yeah
um
only for the only for the ones where it's critical
um-hum
uh yeah because there's a big thing in in the in the here on the east coast the Boston Police Department uh the Policemen's Association
took the uh the Boston Police Department to court because they were uh trying to institute drug tests for the cops here in Boston
right
right
and um they won the Police Department the the Police Association won
and it it was a right to privacy type deal that they approached it and the courts agreed
yeah i i guess i would feel that the you know police
uh that the police should be one of those public uh safety issues where you know mandatory drug testing where it would be favorable
yeah
oh yeah
definitely well you know the thing is is in all these transportation accidents this
uh
