Drug Testing Should NOT Be Mandatory In The Workplace

Instead of testing for what really matters - impairment, drug testing looks for the presence of drug metabolites in the employee's urine, which remain in the body for up to two months. It should fall on management to maintain a trusting a positive work environment where such actions do not need to be taken. The mandation of drug testing violates rights telling employees what they can and cannot do on their own time, in their own homes. Drug testing should not be mandatory in the workplace for it invades employees private lives for irrelevant results.

An experienced manager should know how to maintain a safe and effective work environment without demoralizing employees subjecting them with testing procedures. Testing alienates the vast majority of good employees, who resent being subjected to a strip search to keep their jobs. For instance, one can screen out probable drug users by pursuing in depth interviews with different interviewers, checking references thoroughly and contacting a candidate's previous supervisors. Contacting previous employers can inform a hiring manager of chronic absenteeism, inconsistent quality, and bad work habits at their former jobs (Maltby, 2001). By doing this
Drug testing may take place only in those rare instances when a special societal need outweighs the employee’s privacy interest (Willis, 1999, p. 5). The Fourth Amendment states that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, but upon probable cause.” This is unreasonable search and seizure, breaching the 4th amendment protections against such abuse. This treats people like they are guilty until proven innocent, reversing the presumption of innocence which is the basis of our democratic society (Norris, n.d., para