Federal Bail-Seekers’ Drug Tests Ordered

President Clinton will require all persons arrested on federal charges to face drug tests as a condition of bail and will encourage state and local law enforcement agencies to adopt the same policy, White House and Justice Department officials said Thursday night.

Clinton, faced with accusations that his administration is soft on drugs, has approved an executive order directing Atty. Gen. Janet Reno “to develop a universal policy requiring federal arrestees to submit to drug testing before decisions are made on whether to release them into the community pending trial,” according to a draft of the order.

Under the order, scheduled for public signing ceremonies Monday, anyone arrested for any federal offense would be asked to submit to a drug test. Should that person refuse, Justice Department lawyers could seek a variety of sanctions, such as asking for detention pending further court proceedings.

About 60,000 people a year in federal custody would face the potential choice of a drug test or detention without bail. If state and local jurisdictions heed Clinton’s recommendation, hundreds of thousands of people across the country would be affected.

Currently drug tests are performed at random on a small percentage of federal inmates and routinely on convicted felons who are on probation.

The unprecedented blanket approach in Clinton’s new order seems certain to provoke court challenges on constitutional grounds.