DRUG TESTING: Unsafe at Any Speed

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It will be an enormous undertaking: the random drug testing of almost every airline pilot, railroad engineer and truck driver in the U.S., a total of 4 million non-Government transportation workers. Rejecting widespread concerns about the constitutionality of such a move, the Transportation Department last week announced plans to require companies and municipalities involved in the transit business to begin testing their employees in December 1989. The ; workers will be screened for marijuana, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines and phencyclidine (PCP). Said Transportation Secretary James Burnley: "The American people demand and expect a drug-free transportation system."

Unions representing airline pilots and independent truckers, citing the unreliability of drug tests, said immediately that they would challenge the legality of the Government's order. Another issue is the cost of administering the tests: $2 billion over ten years, which must be borne by private industry and local mass-transit authorities. They will face fines of up to $20,000 for each instance of failing to comply. The cost is modest, argues Burnley, compared with the estimated $8.7 billion that would be lost in the same period because of accidents, absenteeism and medical-insurance bills created by illegal drug use.