American Notes Drug Abuse

Chalk it up to the fervid atmosphere created by the nation's concern over drug abuse, but some of the suggestions are getting a little wild. Attorney General Edwin Meese last week urged employers to help in the drug campaign by undertaking "surveillance of problem areas such as locker rooms, parking lots and nearby taverns if necessary." On the other side of the field, a group of San Diego civil libertarians who call themselves Question Authority have put together a three-minute telephone tape offering advice on how to disguise drug traces in urine. "Two large tablespoons of bleach (poured into a urine sample) will help beat the test," a woman tells callers. "Remember . . . you've got the Constitution on your side."

Another phenomenon spawned by drug enforcement efforts is a black market in clean urine -- a vial can sell for as much as $50. "It's being sold in the streets by anybody who can make a buck," says William Hopkins, director of a New York State drug-abuse unit. "A guy who's making $50,000 a year is not going to lose his job because of bad urine."