I just finished taking a drug test this morning as a condition of getting employment with a major telecommunications firm. I don’t drink, smoke cigarettes or marijuana—never have, never will, so I have nothing to worry about. But for some reason I felt terrible, as if I had been violated and humiliated. It wasn’t enough to provide a sample of my urine. It had to be the right temperature. I couldn’t flush the toilet. I was told to give them the hand-soap on the counter by the sink so as not to dilute anything. A person stood outside the door to make sure I didn’t leave. I was told to empty my pockets. It was as if I was some sort of a criminal suspect—there was no trust, except in the Reagan arms race philosophy of "trust—then verify."

What struck me so much was not that my Fourth Amendment rights had been violated, but that no one seemed to take notice. There were businessmen in suits and ties coming in and out of the bathrooms, as well as older ladies who could be someone’s grandparent. They smiled, then casually urinated away what dignity they had—all the while being done with the usual formalities that one would expect in an office complex.

It seemed like a throwback to the days of the Communist witchhunts of the 1950s. One had to sign papers declaring that he or she was not a member of the Communist Party, and "loyal" to the United States of America, even when it was none of the employer’s business and had nothing to do with the average private-sector job. A drug test is the essentially the same scenario, only with an additional lie-detector test. This time it is an oath of allegiance to the Drug War and its values, whether or not you find them abhorrent.

There are those who say that since a drug test is "voluntary," there is no problem with it. That argument misses the fact that it becomes a situation of duress when landing a job is at stake based upon the correct response to "volunteerism." Even if it were voluntary, should one really be asked to waive their Fourth Amendment rights? Do companies have the right to ask blacks and other minorities to give up their Fourteenth Amendment rights so they could be escorted out of white-owned businesses? Can companies ask a person about their religion, political affiliation, or sexual preference? Can they ask someone to sign a "voluntary" statement about such topics? Of course not. But they can not only ask you about your drug habits, if any— they have the authority to search INSIDE of you to see if you are lying, as if you were a suspect in a crime—which in this case is the scandalous act of seeking employment.

Companies make the issue that drug use affects businesses throughout the land, and this is very true. But the most rampant problem is alcohol, and most drug tests are blind to alcohol, which leaves the system fairly quickly, whereas cannibanoids stay in the system for weeks. If the object were to catch all drugs of abuse, such a test would be of little value to employers. But yet it is catching on across the country. Why? Because it detects illegal drugs, not drugs of abuse. This makes it a political instrument, rather than one of safety, and is exactly the reason why its legality is dubious and why one must "volunteer" to take it. This is also why it can be challenged in court, and why it should.

Human rights are theoretically universal, but rights only have value when they are respected by those in authority. Otherwise rights become wishes. The Fourth Amendment may sound great on paper, but when it fails to apply beyond the paper it was written on, we are all in great trouble indeed.