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Parents Say The Darndest Things

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Here's ONDCP's Bertha Madras from an online debate over student drug testing:

Newsweek: Is there a risk that kids who test positive for drugs will be stigmatized?

Madras: The thing that I have heard is that everyone knows who's using drugs; there are no surprises amongst the kids. Kids know who are the users, their friends know, so when a kid is not engaged in sports for one game, nobody is surprised. I've been a parent all my life, and I knew which one of the kids I didn't want my kids near.

This level of incoherence is an ONDCP specialty. Leaving aside the matter of whether Madras already had kids when she was born, there's still a lot of good stuff here.

Madras claims to know which kids use drugs, which basically undermines her whole point throughout the debate. If this information is widely available, who needs a urine collection program? Why waste precious educational resources to confirm what super-mom Bertha Madras already knows?

Obviously, she delights in stigma rather than refuting it. She admits to having a very negative impression of certain kids, and encourages her children to avoid them rather than offer support. Her statement is an endorsement of stigma and an unambiguous admission that singling out students is part of her agenda.

What a coward. Bertha Madras is as yellow as the urine she wants to collect from innocent children.

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Permission to Reprint: This article is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license.
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very slightly defending Madras

Think I'm gonna play Devil's Advocate on this one just a bit. Even if they "know" which kids are using, they need proof before they can sanction them. Stigmatizing people who use the "wrong" drugs is something they are proud of, they think it's an effective strategy to keep the number of users down. Trying to destroy the lives of users, whether by jail, financial pressure, or stigmatization is the name of their game. Severely punishing the people who use the wrong drugs for the sake of the greater community is their philosophy.

I wanna know if she thinks alcohol is a drug. The ONDCP comment was ambiguous on that subject, their usual strategy since they don't want to admit it is, and they know how stupid they would look if they claim it isn't.
Send alcohol supremacist bigotry to the dustbin of history.

drug testing without cause

I didn't mean to suggest any sympathy for the idea of drug testing without cause. It's pure fascist league, way out of line by any traditional American understanding of liberty.

Drug Testing Students is Bull-shit

Drug Testing Students is Bullshit! Unless the Teaching Staff is included in this illegal search and seizure, I say leave the kids alone and silence the debate. I would be willing to bet, that you would have those very same teachers that scream for drug testing of students; "Start to Scream about their Civil Liberties". If they (teachers and administrators) had to give a random sample for drug testing?

Todays students have enough on their plate to worry about. Reflecting upon my school days, brings back memories of activities that I apparently survived. I believe that we as a people have spoken with regard to legalizing Ganja.Yet the Federal Government says "Screw-You". Bend over and grab your ankles.

One must remember that the elected officials are to be servants of the people. Not Masters of the people.

With regard to the other much harder "stuff"that children are faced with. I believe that every individual is just that; "An individual".

Teach individual and personal choice. Instead of teaching that following and doing as your told without asking questions is the norm. Teach Creativity instead of preparing for a test. Did anyone watch John Stossels report; "Dumb in America"?

The teachers unions are tantamount to organized crime. The teachers unions protect child molesters,predators and thieves and criminals of all sorts.

Drugs are the least of the childrens worries.

Remember this? Child molesters, Predators, Thieves, and Lawyers employed by the School districts. These all have something in common. These groups would like your attention focused elsewhere. And once you group these children into the stigmata of "I know which kids do drugs". The afore mentioned groups can take them under their wings. And we as parents will be the last to know.
Drug-Testing Students is Bull-Shit!
Omega_Prophet

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