[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

I guess the only tolerated if not encouraged pasttime for teens would be condomed sex.

[Wolfie]

bump

[TheOtherOne]

Another day, another couple Freedoms gone.

This is getting out of control. What if a kid, hangs out with 5 buddies who all smoke cigarettes, but never smokes himself...how would he test? Since all the news about second hand smoke, I would assume traces of 'smoking' would appear in the non-smoker as well.

[metesky]

This needs to be postred over and over, until the Nazis are in full retreat.

[Gorzaloon]

In most cases, the penalties for testing positive for cotinine -- a metabolic byproduct that remains in the body after smoking or chewing tobacco --

Hold it, hold it.

Stupid Science Alert.

This means that people who are quitting smoking with Nicorette gum or the Patch will flunk the test.

Idiots.

[Kozak]

Experts say it is unlikely that cotinine would collect in people exposed to secondhand smoke.

They better not eat tomatoes or certain other vegetables or they will also be testing positive for cotinine. I hope our resident drug warriors are happy about this development. If I were a kid I would hand a piss cup to the teacher and ask HIM for a specimen too. Can't have anyone who uses drugs or alcohol to influence the children now can we???

[fone]

I thank God I went to skool back before the Nazi's were running the gulags.

Did these Commandants ever hear of the Forbidden Fruit theory?

I thought children went to skool to be educated! It seems the focus has changed to survival.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Opponents say such testing violates students' rights and can keep them out of the extracurricular activities they need to stay on track.

Let's see if I understand this argument. It's not Jason's smoking that keeps him off the football team, it's the test. And of course, if we don't permit Jason to break team rules and state laws, then he'll end up being a lawbreaker.

"Rights" as outlined in the Constitution and elsewhere are important. I get so tired of legitimite rights being trivialized by those who think there should be no laws and no rules, or at least no penalties for breaking them. What "rights" are being violated by the tests? The "right" to break the state law? The "right" to ignore the football team rules? The "right" of children to addict themselves?

[Leisler]

Heroin is cheaper than beer.
You got to love the gub-a-ment.

[MrLeRoy]

"Some addicted drug users look back to cigarettes as the start of it all,"

Yep, tobacco is the real gateway drug (along with alcohol). I'm sure the FR Drug Warriors support the coming War On Tobacco And Alcohol.

[robertpaulsen]

"Some addicted drug users look back to cigarettes as the start of it all"

Let me see if I get this right. Smoking a Marlboro can be the start of addiction to other drugs, but smoking marijuana cannot?

[Kevin Curry]

Well, there you go. Just one more reason to homeschool the little libertarian addicts-in-training.

. . . but for the fact that most pro-dopers apparently don't have children. (Who needs kids when you have dope to build your life around? In the timeless paraphrased words of the inimitable Foghorn Leghorn: "I got--I say, I got mah dope ta keep ME warm!")

Or was it RJCogburn? . . . Wolfie? Hemlock? Dark Lord? headsonpikes? GreenGrinningHorkPhlegm?

I can't keep track these days.

[Exeter]

"Elsewhere around the country, schools in Blackford County, Ind., test for tobacco use in...students who take driver's education or apply for parking permits."

Oh yeh, I sure wouldn't want to park next to someone who was high on Virginia Slims...

[<1/1,000,000th%]

What if the kids turn up positive for HIV?

[Nate505]

Hey Wolfie,

Isn't it amusing how most of these people didn't care when it came to testing for illegal drugs, but are now crying about the loss of freedom when it comes for tobacco, even though it's generally illegal for most high schoolers?

[aruanan]

Breath mints won't cut it anymore for students who have been smoking in the bathroom -- some schools around the country are administering urine tests to teenagers to find out whether they have been using tobacco.

I wonder how they can weed out environmental smoke from parents and friends.

[aruanan]

Screenings can detect cotinine for up to 10 days in regular smokers of about a half a pack, or 10 cigarettes, a day, McAlpin said. Experts say it is unlikely that cotinine would collect in people exposed to secondhand smoke.

Let's base a policy on "unlikely".

[galt-jw]

do they test the teachers?

it will be much easier to enforce tyranny when the data chips are installed.

[A CA Guy]

Since they are minors and it is illegal to be on booze, drugs or cigs, I do see the interest in seeing they are clean.
I think the undertaking to do that is going to be rough.

Maybe the idea is to stop them from getting hooked on the bad stuff while younger?

Tough way to go though.

[Virginia-American]

Yet another way to take time away from English, history, math, etc.