(AP) MIAMI – A Miami federal judge has declared that Gov. Rick Scott’s order requiring drug testing for state workers is unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro ruled Thursday that blanket testing of some 85,000 workers violates the Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. The ruling could eventually have an impact on a new state law also permitting random worker drug testing.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/26/2768890/judge-fla-worker-drug-testing.html#storylink=cpy#storylink=cpy
That’s right! You can’t just order drug tests for everybody, that’s unconstitutional! Drug tests can only be ordered in very specific circumstances, like applying for private sector jobs, having a private sector job and being randomly selected, having any job that is considered “safety-related” or “high-risk”, having a job with sensitive security clearances, getting into an accident or becoming injured on the job, being pulled over on the roads for suspicion of impairment, pursuing athletics as your profession, pursuing athletics as an amateur, pursuing athletics at an educational institution, being suspected of having drugs at an educational institution, joining service organizations at an educational institution, pursuing art, music, or drama at an educational institution, joining chess club, 4-H, or Honor Society at an educational institution, applying for food assistance, housing assistance, utilities assistance, or unemployment assistance in some states, and upon the order of the president declaring you an “enemy combatant” (under which declaration a drug test is the least of your problems).
The lawyer for Florida had the gall to say that workers who object to drug tests could just “find employment elsewhere”. Hey, that’s great! How ’bout we just require workers to be strip-searched before shift, just to be sure they’re not smuggling any drugs into the workplace? If they don’t like it, they can quit and find work elsewhere! How ’bout we require workers to reveal their Facebook usernames and passwords so we can know whether they’re using drugs on their spare time? Workers are free to quit, after all, if they don’t like.
Every case about drug testing that comes up requiring state workers to pee in a cup gets squashed because the Fourth Amendment applies to the government trying to violate our privacy. But when it comes to the private sector, the Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply, because we the workers are just engaging in a voluntary employment relationship with our corporate overlords. Gosh, if you don’t like it, you can just work elsewhere, except that every place you could work with your particular skill requires a pee test. After all, jobs are plentiful and easy to find and you always have the freedom to just be homeless.
I don’t think that was the intent of the Fourth Amendment:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
The history of the Fourth Amendment traces back to writs of assistance and general warrants that had been abused by the king against the colonial subjects in America. I offer that the “right of the people to be secure” depends not on that which they are to be secure from, any more than the Second Amendment right to bear arms depends on being a part of a well-regulated militia. The precedent was that the government, the monarchy and its agents, would be that which unreasonably searched and seized things from the citizens. The only reason the Founders wouldn’t tack on “by any agency public or private” to the Fourth Amendment is that it was incomprehensible that there would be such a thing as a global corporate economy that could exercise such power*.
In other words, how can something done by a government be an affront to our rights to privacy, but the same thing done by a corporation is not?
* Kind of like how they could never have imagined the need to recognize the right to sow seeds and harvest personal crops… a bunch of hemp farmers could never have predicted the crop that was of “first necessity to the wealth & protection of the country” could get them serious prison time.
Contact your elected representatives and urge them to 'Stop Arresting Marijuana Smokers'. 
How did Rick Scott get elected as governor of Florida anyway? The yahoos in the panhandle didnt trust the other banker option, which is understandable. The vote was split 50-50 with an edge to the male. Scott, who took well over 100 million profit out of a health care business by swindling medicare, pleaded the 5th, answering no questions pertaining to the theft. He then spent 60+ million campaigning to eke out the governor position. His attempt to force drug testing was rejected as stated above. He also killed mass transit with the feds offering the bulk of funds. Like the criminal Fed bailouts, this perp got away free for obvious crimes, moving on to become governor. Isn’t life great.
I’ve been a registered member of NORML for almost 37 years I guess. And I can’t agree more with the right of each individual to choose whether they care to smoke a little weed or not on their own personal time. Insurance companies are the reason as far as I know why employers have to conduct mandatory pre hire drug screenings, and of course “sensitive positions” employee’s are subject to random testing but they agreed to that when they took the job. I agree with and I’m sure most sensible people who work in demanding jobs or even non demanding jobs prefer to stay straight and clear while at work, I do. But after a long day if I want to come home and take a puff or two I should not have to fear that I am putting my future at risk. Alcohol is by far more dangerous to human life and health then marijuana but it’s legal. Cell phoners/texters are by far more dangerous on the road then a guy who smoked a bud and is on his way to the store for ice cream. Pizza can be delivered! And most cigarette smokers are by far less productive then non smokers because nicotine controls them and the amount of time on a cigarette break through out the day adds up to billions of dollars a year to the employers. Legalize it, tax it like anything else that is taxed and let us be free to indulge or not.