Teenagers unfairly targeted for testing

Jeff Silverman, Las Vegas

Sunday, Feb. 17, 2008 | 2:03 a.m.

Ever since the 1920s, teenagers in the United States have been unfairly singled out and scrutinized for their behavior, or in the sentiments of letter writer Melinda Grubbs, their presumed behavior. Ms. Grubbs’ proposal, in her Thursday letter, to subject every high school student in Clark County to forced drug testing goes beyond insulting.

Her way of thinking borders on unconstitutional behavior, even though the U.S. Constitution does not explicitly guarantee citizens of any age the right to presumed innocence. Still, the Fifth and Sixth amendments to the Constitution should be used as a blueprint for anyone who would propose the idea of subjecting tens of thousands of innocent U.S. citizens to unwarranted, forced medical testing.

Since children and teenagers have no legal rights to protect them from the privacy-invading whims of their parents and school officials, I have a suggestion. For every student who is forced to take a drug test, so should the parents and school faculty of that student. Like racism and hatred, drug and alcohol use is learned behavior, and I’d be willing to bet that at least a few of the adults who are yelling for unwarranted medical tests on innocent children would show positive results themselves.

There is no place in the Bill of Rights that discriminates regarding access to our fundamental human rights based on the attainment of a minimum age. The Supreme Court decision that allows the drug testing of school athletes is based solely on the extracurricular interests of certain students and should scare any clear-thinking American senseless. Laying the presumption of guilt on an entire group of Americans based solely on age is not something I’m willing to yield to.