Library Volunteers Just Say No to Drug Testing
October 13th, 2006 by ddetox
Bronson. - Levy County’s public libraries are struggling to get books checked out or reshelved because retirees who usually handle many of those chores have balked at a requirement that they “pee in a cup” as part of a mandatory drug test for all county volunteers.
“It’s not like we are a high-risk group for coming in drunk or high or stoned or whatever,” said one volunteer. “This is just a common-sense issue - why are we spending tax money to test 75-year-old grandmothers for marijuana? We should be using that money to buy more books and computers.”
The situation has gotten to the point where the pool of 55 volunteers has dwindled to two and the number of hours worked by volunteers in the county’s five libraries plunged from 330 in September 2005 to 11 this September, according to county library records. None of the former volunteers contacted by The Sun wanted to be publicly identified in a story about drug-testing.
“A large part of the problem is how the test is administered - it is an affront to some people’s dignity, especially people who grew up in another generation,” said the county’s library director, Bonnie Tollefson.
Most of the volunteers are between the ages of 60 and 85. Under the county’s year-old contract with First Lab, all drug tests are done on urine samples that are collected in plastic cups while a lab employee stands within hearing distance of the person providing the sample. County officials said they realize that some people may find the test intrusive.
“We have a number of volunteers who are older, and I think about how my mother - who is 83 - would react to a test like this,” Tollefson said. “She would find it degrading, be totally offended and find it an affront to her dignity. Many of our volunteers feel the same way.”
Additionally, the volunteers were initially told they needed to drive to Gainesville to provide a urine sample at a specific medical laboratory.
To overcome the transportation concerns, the county arranged for the testing to be done at each of the county’s five public libraries later this month…
Karen Voyles, 2006, The Gainesville Sun
employee drug test, volunteers