The Cost of Testing

Abstract

An edited and condensed version of remarks delivered by LaTonya Myers as a panelist at the “Drug Testing and Community Supervision: Interrogating Policy, Practice, and Purpose” convening in Columbus, Ohio, in November 2023. Myers discusses her experiences—mostly negative—of probation and drug testing in Philadelphia, which began at age 12 after she intervened in a domestic violence incident involving her mother, and outlines a very different model of supervision. Myers is the founder of Above All Odds, an organization dedicated to supporting those harmed by mass supervision and incarceration in Philadelphia and to advocating for systemic change.