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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2001)
Wednesday Editor in chief: Jack Clifford Managing Editor: Jessica Blanchard Newsroom: (541) 346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu EDITORIAL EDITOR: MICHAEL J. KLECKNER opededitor@journalist.com ty is worth it, they said. But there's something bigger at. * U i . • 1 . -M* DIARY OF A MALCONTENT MICHAEL J. KLECKNER I feel incredibly betrayed by America right now. No, I’m not talking about the election. I’m talking about drug testing. For no meritorious reason, without any suspicion or misstep on my part, I have to hand over urine to prove to my summer em ployer that... actually, I don’t know what it’s supposed to prove. That why I’m upset. I have, by all accounts, been a decent, re sponsible, upstanding citizen. I have learned —and cared—about our country and the po litical process. I believe in voting and have done my civic duty since I turned 18.1 am gen erally law-abiding and cooperative. So I have played the game. I have led a fair ly transparent life. I graduated from high school with a state honors diploma. After learning about and working in the real world for eight years, I started college. I have a clear goal and a clear plan for pulling myself up by my bootstraps. Even working two jobs and attending classes full time, I have a 3.95 cu mulative GPA. I have been awarded scholar ships and grants, and the federal government has seen fit to give me money and tax breaks. All of these institutions have confirmed that I am responsible and intelligent and that I merit that which I receive. Then last year, I was awarded a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund internship. One of the top achievements for a newspaper student, the in ternship provided a summer’s experience at a top newspaper, a $1,000 scholarship and a line on my resume that nearly guarantees a good job. But the newspaper to which I was as signed required a drug test. I couldn’t under stand this. After all, I had applied to the Dow Jones, written an essay and taken a test, com peting with hundreds of other applicants across the country. I merited my award. I thought that was what America was about. From what I have told you so far, can you explain to me what my urine has to do with any of this? Despite everything I have done to show that I am a capable and deserving per son, they needed to analyze my body fluids to determine if the chemical make-up of my body was satisfactory. I drink a lot of caffeine, and I smoke a pack of cigarettes a day. Once in a while, if I abuse these drugs, my consumption makes me shaky and a little uncoordinated — less effi cient as a worker. But is this what they want ed to test me on? No. They wanted to find out if, in my off-time, I use illegal drugs. What does that have to do with my merit? Can you find me a marijuana-abuser who makes it to class on time, gets near straight A's and holds down two jobs? Maybe. Can you find me a coke, speed or heroin abuser who can do even one of those things? No. But I fulfill my responsibilities. So what does it matter if I do or do not use (not abuse) an illegal drug in the privacy of my home, on my time? I thought we lived in a country where peo ple were rewarded if they worked hard and showed initiative and fulfilled their obliga tions and responsibilities. The conservatives in this country tell me that’s true. I almost be lieved them for a minute. Conservatives also tell me we live in a country where our private choices should be our private choices, without the interference of the government or other people, so long as we don’t hurt anybody and we’re productive members of society. But hard work meant nothing and my choices weren't private anymore. I told the Dow Jones I wouldn’t submit my urine. Some of my acquaintances questioned my decision on pragmatiG terms. The opportuni siaice mausn t oiten ♦ . talked abput in re- %.*•*’ lationtomandato- # « ry drug testing, . * x ^ even though the . practice is wide spread and appar ently accepted by. the masses as a rea sonable infringe ment of . our «• * . rights. It's the * same *** thing that's at stake in gender bias es and race * biases in America. Are you judging me and deny- * ingmeonthe basis of my* merit, or are you denying me for some other rea son that is unre lated to my worth orcapabili-’ ty to do the job? If the possibility of me using drugs is actual ly applicable to my worth as an em ployee, I would imagine that intox ication is the problem. They must be afraid that I will end up intoxicated while working, or that intoxication will prevent me from fulfilling my % responsibilities. But then why do they only test for illegal drugs? Where is the breathalyzer test every ® morning before work, to be sure I'm not drunk? Where is the mid-afternoon caffeine test to be sure I'm not too wired and incapable of working efficiently? If my personal choic-. es are that applicable to a job I've already shown I can do, then why is their drug test ing policy not rational and consistent? Some people will say that I object drug test because I am a dirty, de praved drug abuser. ButI have nothing to hide. And my private choices aren’t the point. The pointis.it is anathema to a free, demo cratic society to violate my body when all of my public behaviors show me as a re sponsible citizen. No one who believes in jLiccuuiii ujuiu lugiudiiy support pre-em ployment drug testing without cause. I’ve been told that companies do need to know if I use illegal drugs, because I will be on their insurance, and were I to have a prob lem in my off-time and require medical at tention, their policy would have to pay for it. So where's the responsible driver test before I'm hired? After all, if I get into a car accident because I drive like a maniac, their insurance would have to pay for my medical treatment. Do they check to make sure I have non-slip stickers in my tub before they hire me? After all, if I fall, their insurance will have to pay. Obviously, mandatory drug testing has nothing to do with my abilities or their insur ance. It's a form of bias. They want to be sure I’m not doing something they believe is so cially unacceptable. And I have principles, instilled in me by my country, that tell me that’s plain wrong. I shouldn’t be asked, without reason,- to piss in a cup. I shouldn't be denied what I'm worthy of because I stand up for my principles. Don't get me wrong — I support drug testing for cause. If I have not fulfilled my responsibilities, or if I've acted improperly and given a reason for my em ployer to think I may be a risk to their compa ny, then by all means, test to find out. But these people have never even met me, and already they’re suspicious and want to be sure I behave exactly as they believe. Luckily, I was reassigned by the Dow Jones Fund to a newspaper that didn’t drug test. That was very nice. But now I again face the dilemma, as the daily Oregon newspaper I’m interning with this summer requires a pre employment drug test. Guess what? I’m go ing to give them my urine — not because it’s right, and not because I’ve given up on my principles. But I love Oregon, and I want to live here for a long time. I want to work in this state after I graduate: Social progress is slower than my college career. But it’s still wrong, and I’ve still been be trayed. I guess we have a long way to go until people will judge me for what I have shown I can do, instead of for something unrelated. Ronald Reagan once said, "We are committed to a society in which all men and women have equal opportunities to succeed... We want a color-blind society. A society, that in the words of Dr. King, judges people not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character." And I thought that the phi losophy underlying those words was that, in America, we would judge people based on merit. Hey, I can’t talk anymore. I have an ap pointment with a little plastic cup. Michael J. Kleckner is the editorial editor for the Ore gon Daily Emerald. His views do not necessarily repre sent those of the Emerald. He can be reached at ope deditor@jburnaJist.com.
