the average person be in favor of drug testing?Imagine you send little Johnny off on a trip to visit his grandparents who live 500 miles away in another state. You put your child on the plane rightly expecting him/her to reach the destination safely. Unbeknownst to you, however, the pilot of your child’s plane uses drugs on an occasional basis. The pilot, feeling as if he is in control of himself while high, decides to take a few hits before take-off. The airlines never knew of his little habit, however, because neither pre-employment or random drug tests were ever given to this pilot, and this being his first time flying while high, neither was the co-pilot aware of his supposed “weekend only” habit. Consequently, the plane never reaches its destination. That being a scenario, let’s now look at a case. In 1987, 16 people were killed from the collision of two trains, where it was later revealed that one of the train’s engineers had been smoking marijuana before they collided. In 1991, 8 people were killed in a New York subway in which the train’s driver later tested positive for drugs (Grimsley 4). In addition, people should be concerned as to whether their co-workers are using drugs. A study by the AMA shows that construction workers are among the category of employees reporting the highest usage rate of illegal drugs, with 15.6% admitting to using them. Obviously, you don’t want a fellow construction worker who is high on marijuana or cocaine operating the crane that has 2 tons of metal loaded onto it. In addition, employees who use drugs are more likely to steal from their employer, which in turn is passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices. Albert C. Nelson of the Roanoke Times & World News writes this in response to Kent Willis of the ACLU, “Which of the following would Willis have confidence in if he or she refused to take a drug test: his doctor, his account...
