Should They Submit to a Drug Test?

If you thought that the scandal from the leaked video of One Direction members smoking weed was just going to blow over, you were very, very wrong. If you, like me, thought it was nowhere near as big of a deal as people were making of it, it turns out we were all wrong again. Although One Direction member Liam Payne has tried to apologize on behalf of his band mates, the latest rumor has it that there could be unforeseen consequences for Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson's actions. Specifically, it's been reported that a Philippines group wants One Direction to take a drug test before they come to the country on tour in 2015.

The anti-drug group is called Laban ng Pamilyang Pilipino and they allegedly held a press conference to clarify that while they aren't trying to get One Direction outright banned from the country, they still think it's important that the five of them agree to be tested — preferably as soon as they land at Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It's also reported that there are some who think that One Direction should be monitored before and during their concert, as if they're all going to take the opportunity to light a bong the very second the thousands of fans in the concert venues manage to drag their eyes away.

Whether or not the story is true isn't as important as how quickly One Direction's fans took it and ran with it. #STOPTHE1DISSUE has been trending on Twitter Monday morning as fans express their outrage toward the very idea that their boys be forced to be subjected to anything as invasive as a drug test and, less frequently, disdain the Filipino groups for disrespecting the One Direction fans who live in the Philippines like that.

In fact, Directioners seem particularly peeved that the weed scandal is still coming up when the band has done so much charity work and good in the world. Of course, considering this is the One Direction fandom, their tweets range from reasonable and justifiably upset to outright rude, with some even going so far as to claim that the Philippines needs to concentrate on the corruption in their government rather than on persecuting a boy band.

It's not that their anger isn't justified. It sounds downright ridiculous to force One Direction to do a drug test as soon as they get to the Philippines, since that wouldn't really stop them from doing more of it — or, apparently, from filming it, if they're so inclined. Banning them from one country for an activity they did in a country where it's legal is even more ridiculous. However, one anti-drug group doesn't speak for the entire government of the Philippines and the Directioner's anger seems more than a little premature.

Everyone on both sides really needs to calm down. Yeah, Malik and Tomlinson were smoking weed, but there's so much more wrong with that situation than just the weed. In fact, the weed is really the least of anyone's concerns. The only shocking part of the scandal is that it took so long for everyone to realize they probably indulged every now and then. Or that they thought filming it was a good idea ever.