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. *
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-M* DIARY OF A
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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.