In an Oct. 23 entry, Mt.politics uses this story to take up the case for random drug testing of students involved in extracurricular activities. I have written about this issue here, but am compelled to note that this matter reveals one of the most insidious effects of drugs: They cause otherwise sensible conservatives to lose all respect for the Bill of Rights. If the Fourth Amendment doesn't protect the right to pee in private, then what, for heaven's sake, does it protect? My baseball card collection?

Set aside, for a moment, the constitutional niceties. Look at this as a practical matter. Take a hypothetical 16-year-old girl who likes music. She's out with friends at an all-ages show the weekend before school starts. Somebody passes a joint around, and she takes a couple of tokes.

On Monday, she has to decide whether to sign up for band. Even though the intoxicating effects, if any, of the marijuana are gone, and even though she has no plans to repeat the experiment, she knows that detectable amounts will remain in her body for up to 30 days. She knows that at any time during that period, she could be randomly tested for drugs. If she flunks the test, she faces suspension, humiliation, punishment. Does she take the chance and hope to skate by, or does she go looking for her druggie friends?

Sure, she should have thought about all that before taking that first toke. But she's 16 years old. Like most teenage drug users, she's no dope addict. She's just trying to figure out where she fits into life. What's our goal here: to help her make better choices, or to punish her for choices she already has made?