[speaker001:] Well, uh, I myself am not in favor of drug testing in the work place except in, in specific, uh, very specific in this, uh, very specific examples such as, uh, transportation workers, as in, uh, air traffic controllers, bus drivers and that kind of thing.
[speaker002:] Well.
[speaker001:] Um, I don't really [breathing] think that it's, uh, too many, I think it's a severe invasion of somebody's privacy to say, well, we're going to look at your urine and then decide whether you're, uh, you know, worthy of working for us. I really don't see that that's a very, very valid, uh, thing for a company to say, and I, personally, I don't think I would work for somebody if they were going to reject me on the basis of what's inside my body.
[speaker002:] Yeah, uh, I guess I basically agree that, uh, do you think it's okay for a company to reject somebody knowing that they'll take drugs? I mean suppose they found out some other way?
[speaker001:] Well, I think, I think we, I think the problem here is, is that a, a drug test does not necessarily imply that someone is taking drugs or not taking drugs.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] There's too many cases where it can, you know, there can be false positive results, and that, that sort of thing. I don't think there's any definitive, you know, okay this person is taking drugs, so we don't want him here.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] Uh, like I said, some industries, though, I think it'd be very necessary, I wouldn't want any air traffic controllers high or anything like that when I'm flying in an airplane.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] But, uh, I, I just, I find it to be pretty offensive that, that it's such a, a big deal. I mean, if your employer's not going to trust you or, you know, it, I just, I think it's a whole trust issue. I just can't see it.
[speaker002:] But, have you ever been in a situation where you, you were drug tested or,
[speaker001:] Uh, yeah, I have been.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I.
[speaker002:] I once too, so.
[speaker001:] I mean, I was very offended by, by the whole process.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] I mean it's very humiliating, and, I mean, I'm not speaking in favor of drugs or against drugs, but I, uh, I am totally against that sort of a, uh, [NOISE] I mean it's, it's a pretty personal thing when somebody says I want to look at your urine before I'm going to talk to you.
[speaker002:] Yeah. I had it during a job interview, and I just thought it was dumb of the company, at a point where they were trying to convince me to, to want to work for them
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] to do this, and I'm just like, well, uh, [LAUGHTER] I'm not even going to think much about it
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] if you're going to treat me with this much respect even before
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] you've gotten to know me.
[speaker001:] Right. That's, that's basically my opinion on it, right there, is that it's just, you know, I did, I, I was in the same sort of situation as, it was a job interview and then you had a physical, where you were drug tested, and it's, I just, and I know people who have been drug tested and who have not, you know, been hired by a corporation which, uh, you know, I really. The other side of it is, is, besides its being an invasion of personal privacy, as in my, it's my bodily fluid and I don't really want you to look at it, or
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] or something pretty basic like that, just to the fact that I don't know that it is a company's business to regulate what its employees are doing when they're not at work. I mean, during the eight hours, during the day, when they're supposed to be there, I think they have every right to say this is, these behaviors are acceptable and these are not, but when it enters into what they're doing when they're not at work, I find that to be fairly offensive also.
[speaker002:] Yeah, well like you say, I mean, if it's not a critical kind of job where someone could get hurt, then really what people ought to be doing, I mean, the, the employer ought to be judging you on how well you do your work
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] rather than on these other factors.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] And, I mean, if you are doing drugs and it's causing a problem, then they'll notice it for other reasons.
[speaker001:] That's exactly right.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] And also I just think it, it gets a lot, I'm a big, uh, supporter of personal freedoms and personal privacies, and I think that it just moves down along a line that, that I really would find bad if, if most people went down that line into regulating employees' lives outside of work, you know, there's already talk of people, well, we're not going to hire you if you smoke.
[speaker002:] .
[speaker001:] Well, you know, I, I can see how they can say in the work place we, you don't want them to smoke, but when somebody leaves work, I don't think that it's the employer's right to regulate their life style at all.
[speaker002:] Well, do you think it's, should be illegal for an employer to do this or,
[speaker001:] Uh, I really think it should be, except as I've mentioned twice now, in the specified industries
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] or, or jobs, because there are certain things where it's just vital that a person is clear minded at all times. And other than that I think, I do not think it should be allowable. I think it should be illegal for them to, to want to do that. It should, it's kind of the big brother syndrome, [LAUGHTER] I mean, I just, anything like that just kind of scares me.
[speaker002:] I tend to, to view it, even though I don't think I'd work for a company that did that, I sort of want to defend an employer's rights as opposed to an in-, uh, in addition to an individual's rights, but an employer, really, I think, has the right to hire someone on any basis they want to
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] and if they say they don't want smokers, I sort of feel like an employer should have the right to decide whether they want to allow that.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] Uh, and I don't really,