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Drug tests for chess club? Judge says no

danarhea

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A judge has ruled that drug testing for members of a school chess club is an invasion of privacy, and therefore unconstitutional. I happen to agree. If there is no probable cause, then forced drug testing amounts to unreasonable search and seizure.

However, in light of this ruling, school administrators have been forced to find an alternative method in which they can determine if a student on the chess team is using drugs. It just so happens that I have obtained a copy of their manual for "non-invasive drug testing on chess club members".

1) Is the student passing out face down on the chessboard? If yes, then further testing is required... a) Alcohol on his breath? If yes, then he has tested positive for alcohol. b) No Alcohol on his breath? If true, then he has tested positive for heroin.

2) Is the student throwing chess pieces while screaming like a laughing hyena? If yes, then further testing is required... a) Student hallucinating? If yes, then he has tested positive for angel dust. b) Not hallucinating? If true, then he has tested positive for methamphetamines.

3) Is the student ravenously devouring the chess pieces? If yes, then the student has tested positive for marijuana.

4) Is the student breaking the pieces in two with his bare hands? If yes, then the student has tested positive for steroids. NOTE: In this case, the student should be removed from the chess team and encouraged to try out for baseball.

:mrgreen:

Article is here.
 
It is a weird decision. Why should football players in school be forced to take drug tests but theater kids not? The theater kids take way more drugs in my opinion.

There's probably not much going on in the chess club but if you're gonna make some extra-curricular activities open to drug testing you should do it across the board.
 
It is a weird decision. Why should football players in school be forced to take drug tests but theater kids not? The theater kids take way more drugs in my opinion.

There's probably not much going on in the chess club but if you're gonna make some extra-curricular activities open to drug testing you should do it across the board.

Right now there is more stigma attached to steroids than there is for "other" drugs that kids may use.
 
A judge has ruled that drug testing for members of a school chess club is an invasion of privacy, and therefore unconstitutional. I happen to agree. If there is no probable cause, then forced drug testing amounts to unreasonable search and seizure.

However, in light of this ruling, school administrators have been forced to find an alternative method in which they can determine if a student on the chess team is using drugs. It just so happens that I have obtained a copy of their manual for "non-invasive drug testing on chess club members".

1) Is the student passing out face down on the chessboard? If yes, then further testing is required... a) Alcohol on his breath? If yes, then he has tested positive for alcohol. b) No Alcohol on his breath? If true, then he has tested positive for heroin.

2) Is the student throwing chess pieces while screaming like a laughing hyena? If yes, then further testing is required... a) Student hallucinating? If yes, then he has tested positive for angel dust. b) Not hallucinating? If true, then he has tested positive for methamphetamines.

3) Is the student ravenously devouring the chess pieces? If yes, then the student has tested positive for marijuana.

4) Is the student breaking the pieces in two with his bare hands? If yes, then the student has tested positive for steroids. NOTE: In this case, the student should be removed from the chess team and encouraged to try out for baseball.

:mrgreen:

Article is here.

Does the drug test involve legal drugs I wonder.

It could be argued that cigarettes are performance enhancing drugs.
Nicotine aids with focus.

I'm glad they made the decision not to allow them to be tested because most chess players wouldn't do stuff like that.

Why don't they test the sports teams for steroids?
 
It is a weird decision. Why should football players in school be forced to take drug tests but theater kids not? .

I think the reasoning is performance enhancing drugs. I doubt a stoned chess player will be performing all that well.
 
I think the reasoning is performance enhancing drugs. I doubt a stoned chess player will be performing all that well.
This is anecdotal and probably atypical, but I do better at chess when I'm stoned. I take a lot longer, and sometimes between moves I have to remember what my overall plan was, but the whole game is more interesting, so I analyze each move more carefully and I'm a lot less prone to overlook something. :2razz:
 
Why are kids getting drug tested in the first place? Testing for suspected steroids might be needed in certain circumstances, but that hardly is cause for a policy of testing all activities for all drugs.

Drug testings is becoming way to common in our society. It has become almost a norm rather than exception. People should only tolerate such an invasion of privacy for important and compelling reasons.
 
I think the reasoning is performance enhancing drugs. I doubt a stoned chess player will be performing all that well.
I don't know if it would help in chess but Ridilin and other attention defecit drugs may offer a mental advantage. In college I had friends who used such drugs so they could stay focused and study all night.
 
I do the caffeine all the time when I'm playing chess.

Then after I start getting my ass kick I start doing the alcohol.
 
Like someone mentioned earlier, ADD medications such as Ridalin or Aderall would be a tremendous advantage to those taking them, and if they are going to screen baseball players for steroids they should be screening chess players for ADD meds, as well.

Then again, the entire idea of taking drugs to enhance one's own ability to compete seems not only ridiculously desperate to me, but also misses the point of competition entirely.

If I took steroids to beat someone in a race I'd feel like it's pointless because I didn't do it on my own.
 
Like someone mentioned earlier, ADD medications such as Ridalin or Aderall would be a tremendous advantage to those taking them, and if they are going to screen baseball players for steroids they should be screening chess players for ADD meds, as well.

Then again, the entire idea of taking drugs to enhance one's own ability to compete seems not only ridiculously desperate to me, but also misses the point of competition entirely.

If I took steroids to beat someone in a race I'd feel like it's pointless because I didn't do it on my own.

I don't think it would not feel pointless to you because if you were egotistical enough to take a supplement to protect your ego, then how you protect it won't really matter.
 
I find it strange that drug testing occurs in school at all. Some students in my class were known drug users in high school, but they did it in their off time and didn't come to school high. Why would they be tested for something that's not happening at school? Schools should be places of education, not an arm of law enforcement, UNLESS the criminal act is happening on school property.

There were lots of pot heads in my high school... most of them did well academically, they were just social misfits.
 
....uh....so lemme get this straight...even the chess kids are doing drugs?
 
....uh....so lemme get this straight...even the chess kids are doing drugs?

Yeah no kidding. At what point do we declare the "Ware on Drugs" as a failure? The DORKS are even on drugs.
 
Yeah no kidding. At what point do we declare the "Ware on Drugs" as a failure? The DORKS are even on drugs.

Its not a war on drugs. Its much more specific. Its rules against performance enhancing drugs to preserve fair competition. So unless marijuana is performance enhancing then they shouldn't be eliminated even if its found as a result of a drug test. However, some believe that any illegal drug use is grounds for elimination from competition. I don't agree.
 
Its not a war on drugs. Its much more specific. Its rules against performance enhancing drugs to preserve fair competition. So unless marijuana is performance enhancing then they shouldn't be eliminated even if its found as a result of a drug test. However, some believe that any illegal drug use is grounds for elimination from competition. I don't agree.

Come on, a high school chess club isn't going to be testing for "performance enhancing" drugs. You've got to be kidding me.
 
Come on, a high school chess club isn't going to be testing for "performance enhancing" drugs. You've got to be kidding me.

Have you ever taken dexedrine?
 
Come on, a high school chess club isn't going to be testing for "performance enhancing" drugs. You've got to be kidding me.
I doubt it too. But not because of an silly appeal to common sense as you propose. The benefits of such drugs to chess players is not established where the benefits of steroid use in physical sports is well known. If it ever did get to a point where there was some "smart pill" then there probably will be more tests. A far as i am aware steroid testing is rare.
 
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