Posted on 10/31/2002 4:57:12 AM PST by Wolfie
Dole Links License To Drug Test
Elizabeth Dole wants to require all teenagers to pass a drug test before getting a driver's license. Dole, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate and a former transportation secretary, has promised to push for a federal law pressuring states to enforce such a measure. "Wouldn't that help them understand how important it is to be drug free?" Dole asked at a recent campaign stop in Washington, N.C. "It's not cool (to abuse drugs). It kills."
Then-President Bill Clinton proposed a nearly identical measure in 1996 while campaigning against Dole's husband, former Sen. Bob Dole, and offered federal grants to states the following year. Campaign officials for Elizabeth Dole said they were unaware of the Clinton initiative.
Dole included the pre-license drug test as part of her "Dole Plan for North Carolina" this year, proposing that teens who test positive must complete a drug counseling course and pass a subsequent test before getting a license.
The test could be bypassed. Parents who don't want their children to take a drug test could just say no and waive the requirement, said Mary Brown Brewer, Dole's communications director.
"You can't solely address illegal drugs from the supply side. You have to address it from the demand side," Brewer said. "When you turn 16, you look so forward to getting that driver's license ... This is a pretty strong incentive not to do anything that would prevent you from getting that driver's license."
Dole has made "less government" a campaign mantra, as have many Republicans, which makes it striking that she would embrace an invasive expansion of government duties and authority. Last year, nearly 62,000 N.C. teens got their first driver's license.
A spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said he was unaware of any states enacting such a program after the Clinton push.
Dole's opponent, Democrat Erskine Bowles, said he would like to talk with law enforcement officials, parents and teenagers before proposing such a measure.
The testing presents practical obstacles and legal questions. State motor vehicles administrations would suddenly face the costs of processing drug tests through a laboratory, not to mention the idea of testing youngsters who haven't been accused of anything. U.S. courts, though, have repeatedly upheld the constitutionality of drug tests.
Several states have zero tolerance laws on alcohol use, requiring that teens lose their license if caught driving with any of alcohol in their blood. The alcohol tests, though, are administered after a youth has been stopped on suspicion of drinking.
Substance-abuse experts said drug testing works as an incentive to keep youths from abusing drugs but likely only until they pass that checkpoint.
"Drug testing has always been a false promise that it would help us somehow by threatening people and make them stop so they wouldn't get into trouble," said John P. Morgan, a physician and City University of New York medical professor who has studied drug testing for 15 years.
He said the vast majority of positive drug tests detect nothing stronger than marijuana, and occasional smokers need only stop for a couple of weeks to pass.
Carl Shantzis, executive director of Substance Abuse Prevention Services in Charlotte, said prevention policy requires follow-up.
"Once teenagers get a license," Shantzis said, "the question is what kind of other incentives are there to keep them from abusing alcohol or other drugs."
Well, we changed the way we elect Senators - a change in the body of the Constitution. We have the power to change any law we want - including the Constitution. That makes US supreme, not the law.
I'm beginning to sound like my dad here (and that's a little scary, believe me) but, I'm getting the impression that some people here believe that minors actually have rights. If you're a kid and you want the privelage of driving a vehicle on the highway, prove it. Prove to me that you are responsible before I hand you the keys.
And even then I'll probably give you the keys to a '75 Lincoln Mark III (an ultimate leadsled) complete with tires strung around it like a big ol' tugboat. (can never be too careful with my little darlings, dontchknow...)
You bet! That's exactly the message we should send to kids.
No, I admit that you think I evaded you.
You're wrong. If I say to a kid that they have to have done all their homework in English class before they can be on the football team, I'm not accusing them of any sort of guilt. I'm simply saying that there's a condition they have to meet to play football.
That is so, and I had forgoten that. So once in two hundred twenty some years. And not by a majority, it isn't that easy. BTW, I wouldn't consider that to be a good change.
The point still stands, what you support is big, omnipotent central control. Democrat lite, no matter how you attempt to parse it.
You are aware of such a thing called a driver's license test, aren't you?
And you bring up another thing when you say "....before I hand you the keys". Many teenagers buy there own cars. And what about people who never get a license until they are a legal adult? Should they have to piss in a cup too? Do you think people automatically become responsible when they turn 18? Do you think they magically acquire driving skills at 18? And as pointed out by several posters, nothing stops a 16 year old who doesn't do drugs from testing clean, and starting drugs a year later. What then? Oops, I don't think I have to ask. Tests for eveyone. Woo hoo!
Is that I'm not going to compromise myself for anyone. You can be a sellout if you choose, but I walk a different path.
No, no, no!!!! Save me!!!! The dreaded Democrat insult (and I AM insulted - that's the worst thing anyone's ever called me.) C'mon. I am Republican - though not libertarian in all things. Republicans believe in responsible behavior - and going to get a drivers license while doing or addicted to hard drugs is not responsible (and endangers others). Same for kids going to school (with my kids). Not responsible. When Mayor Giuliani came to New YOrk, he started fining people for peeing on the streets in public. I guess an essential freedom was taken away...
Exactly what overall picture would that be Hatteras? Smaller government? Less government intrusion into our personal lives? A strong second Amendment? The right to life by unborn babies? Tell you what, could you point out to me one issue Elizabeth Dole has not flipflopped on since her campaign run in 1999 and get back to me with it?
The greatest value to this proposal, I believe, is that it would force kids on drugs to get off of them - and to actually know that they can do it - that they are not slaves to the drugs they take.
Sure they do. So do most parents who turn over the keys to the car. BUt obviously, many kids do drugs without their parents knowing, and drive, and some of those kill others (like the two killed in my town last year).
No the greatest value to this proposal is it gives the government one more step into taking over control of my car. YB, don't get me wrong, I am anti drug, but this is not covered under the US Constitution in anyway except possibly the 10th Amendment, a right of the separate and sovereign states to have the responsibility to deem how they hand out operator licenses
Agreed, billbears. This would be unconstitutional if the fed. govt. simply passed the law. BUt the federal govt. makes it contingent on monies given to states. Our states (mine certainly - New Jersey) have become whores to the federal government's money. It's obscene!
Being able to pass a driver's test is no more 'proof of responsibility" than being able to pass a "entrance point" drug test. Any kid who's doing drugs and knows they have to pass the test will just stay clean long enough to pass the test, then go right back to it. Keeping kids away from drugs is an admirable goal, but realistically, this is just an expensive "feel good" idea that's going to have little impact on the problem.
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