Expert Denies That Drug Tests for Employees Violate Privacy Rights

An expert on drug abuse, saying there is no “right to use drugs,” dismissed arguments Sunday that employee drug-testing violates privacy rights and advocated such tests for those in critical safety jobs.

Arnold Washton, research director of the 800-Cocaine National Hotline, said cocaine was once considered safe because it was not as available as it is now, and users took smaller doses.

“What we basically had was a low-dose experience with cocaine,” Washton said on the ABC-TV program “This Week With David Brinkley.” “Now that the drug has spread across the country like wildfire, we see a more realistic picture. More people take it, more people get addicted to it and more people die from it.”

Washton said he opposes widespread drug testing in the work force, but “we have to start with the victims who could be in critical job positions, people who are responsible for public safety.”

Scoffing at the argument that drug tests violate an employee’s Fourth Amendment right to privacy, he said: “I think it’s starting to sound as if people in this country have a constitutional right to use drugs, that it’s a matter of personal choice and personal freedom.”

Baseball Commissioner Peter V. Ueberroth, also appearing on the program, said the drug problem had been “surrounded” in the sport and that stiff penalties leveled against players had curbed illegal drug use.

Ueberroth, who implemented an anti-drug campaign in major league baseball, said testing is “not a cure-all” but that employers should periodically spot-test employees to see if there is a problem.