Thursday, September 1, 2011

Is drug testing welfare applicants unconstitutional?

http://tinyurl.com/3j62eta

Drug testing welfare applicants unconstitutional?
excerpt
Under a new Florida law, people applying for welfare have
to take a drug test at their own expense. If they pass, they
are eligible for benefits and the state reimburses them for
the test. If they fail, they are denied welfare for a year, until
they take another test.

Mandatory drug testing for welfare applicants is becoming
a popular idea across the U.S. Many states - including Alabama,
Kentucky, Oklahoma and Louisiana - are considering adopting
laws like Florida's. At the federal level, Senator David Vitter, a
Louisiana Republican, has introduced the Drug Free Families
Act of 2011, which would require all 50 states to drug-test
welfare applicants. (See photos inside Colorado's marijuana
industry.)

And the focus isn't even limited to welfare. In July, Indiana
adopted drug tests for participants in a state job-training program.
An Ohio state senator, Tim Grendell, recently said he plans to
introduce a bill to require the unemployed to take a drug test
before they receive unemployment benefits.
end excerpt


2 comments:

  1. I have to be willing to take drug tests where I work; I don't know why government workers and welfare recipients should mind. Unemployment benefits, though, are earned in a sense, so I'm not so sure about that part of it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I say, if you're going to test one, then test all. Or test none ! Nothing else is fair or honest. Equal opportunity for all.

    ReplyDelete