Rights begin at 18-years-old.

Via Hit and Run, the American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its stance on routine drug testing for students. It sides on the right side, but barely. In the body of the policy, under the heading “BENEFITS AND RISKS OF DRUG TESTING IN SCHOOLS AND AT HOME”, the AAP waits until almost the end to state this:

Drug testing may also be perceived by adolescents as an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

No kidding. So why not elaborate on this? Granted, the AAP is mostly approaching this from a scientific standpoint, but ethics should still be a part of science. You can’t convince me that there is no one at the AAP who is aware of ethical implications. Will the AAP bow before any government desire to invade an adolescent’s medical privacy if the science was clearer than it is with drug testing? I hope not, but this might be a better time to stand up than some point in the future.

P.S. The title of this post is sarcastically incorrect. Obviously.