Spurious proposal for drug testing of chess players cited by General McCaffrey

drug use and other destructive temptations. Drug testing is as appropriate for chess players as for shot-putters, or any other competitors who use their heads as well as their hands.” Accompanying the television image of a couple of eggs sizzling in a frying pan, the phrase, “This is your brain on drugs” has always carried negative connotations, but apparently General McCaffrey has changed his mind about that. He now seems to believe that drugs can actually /mprove the way your brain functions. There was an infamous chess player named Alexander Alekhine who held the world championship longer than anybody else. His games often had superb surprise endings, known in chess circles as_ “brilliancies.” For instance, he would checkmate with a pawn move that no sane and sober mind could ever imagine. However, he was a notorious alcoholic, and McCaffrey is only referring to illegal drugs. “Just when | thought I’ d heard it all from McCaffrey,” was the reaction of Allen St. Pierre, executive director of the NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) Foundation. “Drug testing for chess players? What’ s next from this overreaching drug czar? Drug testing for tiddlywinks players? How about bingo players?” HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_015298