Drug Screens-and More Security Theater (Part 2)

In part one on drug testing, we looked primarily at the accuracy of evidence supporting drug testing—how often do you get false information from the tests. In this second part, we look at the ethics and broader societal and political context of testing. As mentioned, I’ve been doing more traveling, and am increasingly disturbed by [...]
Keep reading »Drug screens-any more than theater?
February 19th, 2013 |
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I’ve been doing a lot of traveling recently, and am increasingly disturbed by the growing surveillance society and the misplaced reassurances that are used to assuage the public, coined “security theater” by Bruce Schneier. Here we’ll look at this drama in the context of screening for drugs of abuse. In a later post we’ll look [...]
Keep reading »Advances in disease surveillance: Putting the “public” into public health
March 13th, 2010 |
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MIAMI—Before a government reports a disease outbreak, cases must usually be counted, verified and assessed—a process that can take days, weeks or months. This delay creates a tension, however, as faster responses are the best hope for keeping a local outbreak from becoming an epidemic or even a pandemic. Overall, bureaucratic diligence and even political [...]
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