09 November 2001
The US Supreme Court agreed this week to hear a case that will allow it to refine its rules on what constitutes acceptable drug testing of high school students. In an Oregon case in 1995, the Supreme Court held that student athletes could be tested because drug use was found to be prevalent at the school in question. But since then, school districts around the country have attempted to expand student drug testing to include students involved in other extracurricular activities, students who drive cars to school, and, in some cases, random, suspicionless tests of all students.
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22 March 2001
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the medical privacy of pregnant women Wednesday, ruling that hospital officials and police may not conspire to secretly test patients for drugs.
In a 6-3 ruling, the court said the Constitution’s protection for privacy outweighs the government’s need to detect drug use, even when a fetus could be exposed.
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16 October 2000
Recently, I helped a mom give birth to her third baby. Carrie’s first, a daughter, lived with her and her boyfriend. Her second had been the result of rape, and was born precipitously, a vaginal breech in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. That baby was adopted by a family member. Now she was engaged to be married and happy about this forthcoming arrival.
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14 October 2000
Here are the bare bones of a case the Supreme Court heard last week: A decade ago, some pregnant women who went to a South Carolina public hospital for prenatal care were given urine tests and arrested if the results turned up positive for cocaine.
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11 October 2000
Imagine going to your doctor for routine medical treatment and supplying a urine sample.
The doctor exits the examination room, goes down the hall and, without your knowledge or consent, tests your urine for illicit drugs.
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10 October 2000
Ecstasy users who happen to be in the job market have new reason to beware.
A new hair drug test being used by many companies in preemployment screenings can detect the popular party drug. It also detects marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and PCP in hair samples up to 90 days after usage, according to Psychemedics Corp., which is marketing the test.
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28 September 2000
American Airlines is being sued by the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) for allegedly discriminating against job applicants by asking illegal medical questions.
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17 May 2000
Anheuser-Busch brewery workers are fighting a drug test imposed recently that is designed to detect drug use up to three months prior.
The new test relies on a lock of hair, rather than a urine sample, which has led Teamsters Local 102 to file a civil rights lawsuit and one worker to shave all of his body hair. Testers used a fingernail clipping for his test instead the union said.
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23 April 2000
A New York lawmaker is recommending mandatory drug testing for professional wrestlers competing in his state, saying it’s not a jab at the simulated violence but a way to protect children trying to emulate their heroes.
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07 April 2000
The Association of Flight Attendants, AFL-CIO, urged Delta Air Lines CEO Leo Mullin today to fix the airline’s drug testing program which has resulted in the firing of flight attendants who did not test positive for drug use.
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17 March 2000
Blondes have more fun, and they may be more likely to get away with it, too—that is, if their idea of fun is taking illegal drugs. Redheads, however, are even less likely to get caught. The darker a person’s hair, the more it accumulates traces of ingested drugs, new research shows. Since hair color is often a reflection of skin pigmentation, the results suggest that drug tests of hair samples may have a racial bias.
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01 March 2000
Timothy White interviewed Paul McCartney, formerly of the Beatles, for a book and developed it into a radio program called "McCartney: The First 20 Years." He asked the songwriter to explain his song "Band on the Run," on the album of the same name.
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30 January 2000
In the 1950s, employers spooked by the Red Menace instituted mandatory loyalty oaths, forcing employees to forswear any ties to communism. In the 1990s, the drug scourge had replaced communism as the great looming societal threat, and the pee-in-a-cup employee drug screen became de rigueur.
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12 January 2000
Two flights attendants unions have taken up the case of a non-unionised flight attendant at Delta Air Lines who was fired after the airline alleged she provided a "substitute" urine sample during a random drug test.
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20 December 1999
Sometimes the scientists get to be the lab rats. Lynn Kurtz works as a forensic toxicologist at the state crime lab in Missoula, Montana, where the staff has recently had occasion to drink beer—all in the name of science.
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