I thought it was bad enough when pubs and clubs in the UK started to insist on fingerprinting customers. Things have got worse quicker than even I could have imagined: the Oxford Mail reports that visitors to a Bicester pub were subjected to mandatory drug testing before being allowed entry.

Customers wishing to drink at the Litten Tree pub last Friday were forced to undergo drug testing before being allowed entrance into the pub. This was apparently part of a police operation aimed at tackling violent street crime - which is ironic as the testing for illegal drugs did nothing to prevent people getting blind drunk then rolling out into the streets.

The "logic" used by the police in discussing this operation would be funny if it wasn't scary. According to Detective Sergeant Steve Duffy of Banbury CID:

"We swab people's hands and then that swab is placed into the equipment and it gives a reading of the level of drug residue.

"If it's above the background level then we use the equipment to give us the power to search - it gives us reasonable suspicion."

So they're using universal low level drug testing in order to provide reasonable suspicion?!? What happened to reasonable suspicion before testing?

Nobody should ever be subjected to drug testing unless there is reasonable suspicion first. This sort of testing completely reverses the burden of proof - in order to enter the pub you have to prove you haven't been using illegal drugs. You become guilty unless proven innocent.

Customers who didn't want to be tested were told they couldn't enter the pub. Of course they could then simply go drink elsewhere, so some people will say "That's all right then".

It's not all right. These things start as occasional one-off events. Then they become more and more frequent until they're the norm instead of the exception. As Duffy said: "Bicester has no bigger problem than the rest of the country". So if it can happen there it can happen anywhere.

Will your local be next?

Labels: Bicester, civil liberties, drug testing, pubs