What up, dog?

by: ACLU of WV

Tue Jun 16, 2009 at 11:30:59 AM EDT

For those who didn't see this gem in Yesterday's Charleston Gazette, the President of the Kanawha County Board of Ed. has decided that it's time to Cry Havoc and Let Loose the Dogs of War (pun absolutely intended!)

I want to believe that their intentions are the best, even if their proposed methods for addressing drug use amongst students are not very sound.  

Focusing resources on drug use when people already have the drugs is not a very good policy and will not yeild productive results.  When it comes to prescription drug abuse, more focus needs to be put into why this stuff seems so easy to get in massive quantities. 

I think it is fair to say that a big part of the problem could be addressed if persons were limited to more reasonable prescriptions.  What on earth are you going to do with 300 pills of oxycontin anyway?  

It seems as if there is more and more energy being expended to remove the rights of students in this country, which concerns me for the future of privacy as a whole.  If students grow up in an environment where they are constantly taught that their privacy doesn't matter, then by the time they are adults, they won't be likely to fight for their privacy rights.  Think of it, we are watching as a generation of young Americans are conditioned to believe that their rights against unreasonable search and seizure aren't applicable to them.  Today, drug sniffing dogs and random drug tests in the schools.  Tomorrow, a generation of young adults who won't stand up for their privacy because they have been taught it doesn't matter.