"V"iets is for VICTORY -- Attorney for NORML Successfully Defends 4th Amendment Rights in Drug Testing Case

I love a good victory -- good job Dan and NORML! Read NORML's press release on the victory in Missouri: For Immediate Release: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 For More Information: Dan Viets: 573-819-2669 FEDERAL COURT ORDER BARS RANDOM DRUG TESTING OF MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF MENTAL HEALTH EMPLOYEES A federal Judge has granted a permanent injunction sought by the Missouri Affiliate of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) stopping the random drug testing of employees of the Missouri Department of Mental Health. The policy of such random drug testing was announced by then-Department Director Dorn Schuffman in April of 2005. The policy was implemented immediately with no discussion or input from the public or Department employees. Dan Viets, attorney for NORML in the suit, argued to the Court that random drug testing of government employees violates the 4th Amendment rights of those tested. The 4th Amendment prohibits unreasonable searches. Courts have held that drug tests are a type of search. Viets argued that the government would no more have the right to conduct a search of a person’s bodily fluids on a random basis than it has the right to randomly search the homes of citizens; both are explicitly prohibited by the Constitution. “While the Court’s order allows such testing under circumstances where there is a reason to suspect drug use, and of some employees of state habilitation centers, the most offensive and pervasive form of testing, random testing without any reason to suspect drug use, has been permanently stopped by this order,” Viets said.