Drug Testing, an Infringement of Rights

Brendan Massie, Journalism Staff Writer

Whenever drugs are mentioned in a conversation, there always tends to be upheaval. And that is exactly what I plan to cause. I hope this grabs your attention and sparks a fire inside of you that makes you want to act upon the crimes against students regarding their inalienable rights.

Recent court cases have decided that as long as students participate in extracurricular activities, the school has the right to perform unwarranted drug tests. This essentially means that the school can perform a drug test on a student involved in extracurricular activities without any warning. On the surface, this seems reasonable. A lot of people would actually agree with this. Those in favor of this policy would say that students consent to signing up for these extracurricular activities, and, therefore, unreasonable searches and seizures, A.K.A the 4th amendment, would become reasonable instead of unreasonable. However, this is not the problem with this policy.

The underlying issue with this policy is what the individual school considers to be “extracurricular”. Let’s take Flower Mound for example. At FMHS, students are required to purchase a parking permit in order to park on school property. By purchasing this permit, the student is now considered to be in an “extracurricular activity.” In my opinion, I don’t consider parking an extracurricular activity. This idea is just laughable and ludicrous.

The counter argument to this is that the students have an option to not purchase a parking pass and take the bus instead. Here lies the problem with that statement. This is assuming that all students have the option to take the bus, but this is not the case. Some students live in neighboring districts with a lower quality of public education, and they desire to go to FMHS for a better education. The students who live in Lewisville that attend FMHS have no choice other than to drive to school and use a parking pass. They are forced to submit to unwarranted drug tests, even though it is a clear violation of their 4th amendment rights.

I have no idea how this is legal. Violating inalienable rights dictated in the constitution is a crime and should have consequences. America has always thrived upon the Bill of Rights and not a single person should be deprived of it.