For the past 35 years, drug testing has been an essential, yet largely under-examined, pillar of the war on drugs. Millions have been drug tested in the places where we spend most of our waking hours – schools, jobs, and our homes – and throughout the criminal legal system.
Drug testing serves as another way to deny care and to target, surveil, and criminalize people – both those who use drugs and do not – particularly Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people and low- and no-income people. Ending the drug war means ending drug war surveillance and stopping practices that monitor and punish rather than increase health, safety, and autonomy.