Supervisors Vote to Take Voluntary Drug Tests

Borrowing an idea from President Reagan, Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to take voluntary drug tests.

Chairman Pete Schabarum and colleagues Mike Antonovich, Ed Edelman and Kenneth Hahn joined in the vote, even though Edelman called the action “window dressing.”

Hahn said, “It’s like putting a flag on your lapel on July 4 weekend saying you are a good American.”

Supervisor Deane Dana, the fifth member of the board, was absent.

The action, which also calls upon supervisorial staff members to take the tests, followed by a day Reagan’s call for a crusade against drugs and his pledge to take a urine test as an example to others.

Republican Antonovich cited the presidential example during a wide-ranging supervisorial discussion of drugs. He made it clear that he believes education, rather than a testing program, is the best way to stop what he said is a fast-growing epidemic of drug and alcohol use by children and adults.

Second Attempt

This was the second week in a row that Antonovich had pushed a testing measure.

Last week, he introduced a proposal for mandatory testing of county employees. Los Angeles County Counsel DeWitt Clinton said his office was attempting to determine “whether it is legal.”

Clinton said that even if the measure were legal, contracts with county unions would have to be renegotiated before testing could begin because the proposal amounts to a change in previously agreed-upon working conditions. Clinton’s report will be submitted in three weeks, Antonovich said.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block, testifying on Antonovich’s proposal for mandatory tests, urged that no program be started “without extensive deliberation and some planning.” That put him in disagreement with Antonovich, who said that by adopting it, the supervisors would be “sending a message” to the public.

When Antonovich came in with his latest proposal Tuesday, Edelman, a Democrat who usually disagrees with him, said he had “no problem” with taking tests, although he added that he would not take one unless he was assured it was “scientific and reliable.”

However, Edelman made it clear during the debate that he would not support the measure unless the supervisors also voted money for an education program favored by the sheriff.

He persuaded the supervisors to also agree, 4 to 0, to give Block $100,000 each from federal funds under their control to expand an educational program the Sheriff’s Department has been conducting in public elementary schools in county areas policed by the sheriff. Each supervisor has control of some federal money given to the county for projects in the broad category of community development.

The supervisors also voted to ask the Legislature and Gov. George Deukmejian to provide money for legislation requiring drug education in every school district.

Expansion Favored

Block said he strongly favored expansion of the present sheriff’s education program, now financed with department funds and $80,000 the sheriff has raised in donations. The best way to reduce drug use, he told the supervisors, is to educate youngsters.

As for testing, he said, “I like the concept,” but he warned that mandatory testing might hurt employee morale and give the public the false impression that there is a major drug problem in county government.

“Are we saying we have a major drug problem among county employees?” he asked.

Such a program, he said, could “destroy morale internally and destroy public confidence externally.”

Talking to reporters later, Block said applicants for Sheriff’s Department jobs are now tested and the department is considering tests for people holding certain sensitive jobs, such as narcotics enforcement.

Asked if he would submit to such a test, he said, “If our department was to undertake a testing program that went beyond the applicant stage, then the management of the department would be asked to participate as an example,” including himself.

However, he said he opposed mandatory testing for all personnel.