NEWS RELEASE FROM THE LIBERTARIAN ALLIANCE
In Association with the Libertarian International
 

Release Date: 25 February 2004
Release Time: Immediate (or otherwise)

Contact Details: Dr Chris R. Tame, 07957 644519 chris@libertarian.co.uk For other contact and link details, see the foot of this message

"RANDOM DRUG TESTS IN SCHOOLS IMMORAL, INTOLERABLE AND A FURTHER STEP TOWARD THE POLICE STATE", SAYS FREE MARKET AND CIVIL LIBERTIES THINK TANK


The Government's plans to subject school children to random drug testing is immoral, intolerable, and a further ominous step toward a police state says the Libertarian Alliance, the radical free market and civil liberties think tank and pressure group.

Libertarian Alliance Director, Dr Chris Tame commented:

"The insane and unwinnable war against drugs has already substantially undermined civil liberties in Britain, being used to justify asset forfeiture, the abandonment of the common law rule of the presumption of innocence, the destruction of financial privacy and the establishment of intrusive state surveillance. The government's latest proposal is yet another step on the road to a full police state in this country.

The lesson that our vulnerable and impressionable children will be taught by this horrendous measure is that their bodies and lives are not there own, that they are wards of the state, and that they may be inspected, abused - effectively raped - by the state - in other words, that they are serfs, not citizens.

It cannot even be argued that this measure will actually decrease drug consumption. The State is unable to keep drugs out of high security prisons, the ranks of its own armed forces, or the members of its own Cabinet. And in a country in which state schools are barely able to impart the "three Rs" to their inmates, one would have thought that they might do well to confine their concerns to this apparently difficult task."

END OF COPY

Note to Editors

(1) Dr. Chris R. Tame is the founder and Director of the Libertarian Alliance. A prolific writer and
lecturer on many topics in sociology, economics, philosophy and the history of ideas. He is also
the author of "Freedom, Responsibility and Justice: The Criminology of the New Right" in the book
"The Politics of Crime Control" (Kevin Stenson & David Cowell, eds., Sage Publications, London,
1991), which can also be found reprinted at http://www.libertarian.co.uk

Dr. Tame can be contacted for further comment at 07957 644519 or by email at
chris@libertarian.co.uk

Extended Contact Details:

The Libertarian Alliance is Britain’s most radical free market and civil liberties policy institute. It has published over 700 articles, pamphlets and books in support of freedom and against statism in all its forms. These are freely available at

http://www.libertarian.co.uk

Our postal address is

The Libertarian Alliance
Suite 35
2 Lansdowne Row
Mayfair
London
W1J 6HL
Tel: 07956 472 199

Associated Organisations

The Libertarian International - http://www.libertarian.to - is a sister organisation to the Libertarian Alliance. Its mission is to coordinate various initiatives in the defence of individual liberty throughout the world.

Sean Gabb's personal website - http://www.seangabb.co.uk - contains about 800,000 words of writings on themes interesting to libertarians and conservatives

Liberalia - http://www.liberalia.com - maintained by by LA Executive member Christian Michel, Liberalia publishes in-depth papers in French and English on libertarianism and free enterprise. It is a prime source of documentation on these issues for students and scholars.

Libertarian Samizdata - http://www.samizdata.net - works in association with the Libertarian Alliance and has an ever larger following. Check it out.