Five out of seven Pharr city commissioners submit to hair-follicle drug test last month

By G. Romero Wendorf

 

The Pharr City Commission (five out of seven elected officials) volunteered last month to take a hair-follicle drug test (they all passed). Question is: will this become a growing trend for governmental bodies? The U.S. Supreme Court has already ruled it un-constitutional: states forcing candidates running for office to submit to a drug test. In 1990, Georgia passed such a bill that required candidates running for state office to prove they had passed a urinalysis drug test within 30 days of qualifying for the ballot.

 

 

In 1997, the nation’s highest court ruled, 8-1, that such a law violated the Fourth Amendment (protection from unreasonable search and seizures).