Drug testing for welfare.

[powderman]

•  
• Drug testing Kentucky welfare recipients gaining steam       by Joe Arnold WHAS11.com Posted on January 30, 2012 at 5:59 PM
  Updated today at 6:22 PM
        Related:
  • Proposed bill would cut off public assistance after failed drug testadd to reading list
    (WHAS11)  A controversial measure that would require drug testing for some Kentucky welfare recipients to receive public assistance may get a vote in the House Health and Welfare Committee.
  
  "It's a possibility," said Rep. Tom Burch (D-Louisville), the Chairman of the committee.  Burch did not allow a committee vote on a similar bill last year and is opposed to the new version, as well.
  
  "The bill to me does not take care of the problem," Burch said.
  
  Several dozen House members have signed on as Co-sponsors of the bill, Speaker Greg Stumbo (D-Prestonsburg).
  
  "The point of this is the safety of the kids and to make sure the kids are getting the food," explained Rep. Lonnie Napier (R-Lancaster).
  
  "They're not receiving it now," Napier continued, "and in lots of cases, people on illegal drugs are trading their food that they purchase from the food stamp to someone for a small amount of dollars in order to buy illegal drugs."
  
  In the updated version of Napier's bill, not all welfare recipients would be drug tested - only those who caseworkers determine show signs of drug use.
  
  That "probable cause" nuance should address concerns that the bill was unconstitutional based on protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
  
  The American Civil Liberties Union argues that food stamp recipients aren't the only Kentuckians who receive government money, so to target that one group is an unconstitutional double standard.
  
  "If you're on welfare, where are you going to get the money to get the test?" Burch said, "So it seems to me that this bill is picking' on the poor and it's not contributing anything."
  
  "We're not just picking on poor people," Napier countered.  "If you go down to the hospital as an RN to get a job and you have to be drug tested, that's not jumping on poor people."
  
  Napier said the bill is more about motivating people to stop illicit drug use than depriving anyone of public assistance. 
  
  A welfare recipient who is suspected of drug abuse would first be asked to complete a questionnaire, then may be required to take a drug test, Napier explained.  A positive test result would place that person on a sixty day probationary period, during which time the benefits would not be interrupted.
  
  "If they come back after 60 days, and they test positive again, we'll go and give them another 14 days to get in a rehab place," Napier said, "And if they don't at the end of the 14 days, they would lose their public assistance."
  
  Yet, children and any other parent would not lose the benefits, Napier said, suggesting that someone else would be appointed to oversee the children's allotment.
  
  "We're not taking any food away from the children," Napier said. 
  
  "You just stepped on a land mine with that kind of stuff," said Terry Braylor after he completed his grocery shopping.
  
  "I am definitely in favor of anybody receiving any kind of welfare having a drug test.  If you cannot be employed you should not get a handout being a druggie," Braylor said.
  
  "If they are getting money for food and stuff they should be spending it on that," agreed Barbara Stewart, "And if they are not, then they shouldn't be getting it."
  
  Yet, some question whether the idea paints with too broad a brush.
  
  "It's like it's making the correlation that people that are down on their luck and have to ask the government for help for food stamps necessarily take drugs," said LeeAnn Hardin, "It doesn't necessarily go hand in hand."
  
  "You're killing a fly with a snow shovel with this bill, you know," Burch said.
  
  "Most of the people will pass (a drug test)," Burch continued, "Now, there's people who certainly abuse it.  But that's the Cabinet's responsibility to catch these people."
  
  "Why should we as taxpaying citizens supply the funds for illegal drug habits on the taxpayers' money?" Napier said, "It's just not right."
  
  Napier said he would wait until after a legal challenge to House redistricting and the filing deadline for elected office passes before asking Burch for a hearing on the bill.
   

[Lon371]

 I say get it passed !!! Then maybe the other states will wake up and do the same.
 
 Plus if the working people are willing to do, just to work. Then why not require it for those who set on their backsides and collect our tax dollars?
 
Lonny

[spitpatch]

       +1 with Lon.....I have to drug/alcohol test every quarter. Each and every person on ANY kind of public assistance should be required to do the same.....and have the same rules. 1st fail = 30 days off welfare and rehab at the individuals expense, 2nd fail = your out.
 
       Harsh, one might think......thats what I have to go through to provide tax money for welfare, and dadgummit, thats what they ought to have to do to get it. I'm convinced that 50% at least, of the welfare rolls would be cut in a few months.
 
       One common denominator I usually see around my area with those on the recipient lifestyle is they almost always have a can of beer in their hand and a pack of cigs in their pockets.
 
 

[Slufoot]

What Lon said, I agree 100%.

[powderman]

Plus if the working people are willing to do, just to work. Then why not require it for those who set on their backsides and collect our tax dollars?
 
Lonny

 
Darned good point, most places do require drug tests, so should the welfare folks. POWDERMAN. 

[blind ear]

+1 Lon, ear

[OLDHandgunner]

I agree 100%. It should be passed by all states.

[guzzijohn]

Probably the first group that needs to be tested is our congressmen and senators, how else do you explain some of their behaviors? Then work our way down.
GuzziJohn

[lakota]

Probably the first group that needs to be tested is our congressmen and senators, how else do you explain some of their behaviors? Then work our way down.
GuzziJohn

How about implementing drug testing for both groups at the same time? Also add some sort of license requirement for politicians before they are even allowed to run for office? The course to become eligible to run should include mandatory proof of citizenship, IQ testing and memorizing the Constitution word for word.
 
As for the welfare class, the people who are forced against their wills to provide welfare are made to undergo drug testing then why shouldn't the people who stand with their hands out demanding more have to do it too?

[powderman]

As for the welfare class, the people who are forced against their wills to provide welfare are made to undergo drug testing then why shouldn't the people who stand with their hands out demanding more have to do it too?

 
BINGO.  I know for a fact that some of them rent their card for 25-50 ct on the $ for cash to pay bills and buy dope. POWDERMAN. 

[yellowtail3]

What a free man drinks, smokes, or eats should not be the concern of the gov't. I suppose that, if the man is receiving gov't funds, he is no longer free.

Maybe we should restrict all federal employees from having a beer. And maybe they'd do their jobs better, if they weren't thinking of sex... so, castrate federal employees as a condition of employment.

don't these gov't people have anything useful to do?

[-Shaggy-]

I suppose that, if the man is receiving gov't funds, he is no longer free.

Exactly.  I couldn't agree more. No need to suppose.

[SHOOTALL]

I suppose that, if the man is receiving gov't funds, he is no longer free.

Exactly.  I couldn't agree more. No need to suppose.

I think he became a subject at that point , not a citizen anymore .

[Cuts Crooked]

I suppose that, if the man is receiving gov't funds, he is no longer free.

Exactly.  I couldn't agree more. No need to suppose.

I think he became a subject at that point , not a citizen anymore .

Sorry to disabuse you of your fantasy. First...government employees are all subject to random drug testing. Second they are all free.....to walk away from the job any time they wish.

[SHOOTALL]

So you think  that govt workers are reciveing a type of wealfare ?

[Cuts Crooked]

So you think  that govt workers are reciveing a type of wealfare ?

To whom are you addressing this question?

[Junior1942]

That's gonna PO a lot of farmers getting welfare not to farm. 

[SHOOTALL]

You sir , you seemed to have missed the fact that some think those collecting govt. wealfare checks should be tested . Nothing about Govt. WORKERS although they often get over paid as is being reported in the news ..........

[yellowtail3]

again - what business is it of the gov't, what a free man eats, drinks, or smokes?

[Cuts Crooked]

You sir , you seemed to have missed the fact that some think those collecting govt. wealfare checks should be tested . Nothing about Govt. WORKERS although they often get over paid as is being reported in the news ..........

And YOU seem to have missed my earlier post concerning drug testing and government workers, go back and read it again.

And yes I agree that some government jobs are tatamount to welfare, but many are doing critical jobs that keep America going........although you may not want to believe it.

[mechanic]

Our military is drug tested.  I have to be drug tested to maintain employment...we have to provide proof to have liability coverage for the company, and to enter various manufacturing facilities.
 
So...it's NOT ok for them to take my money and give it to people who buy drugs with it.
 
Ben

[Casull]

 

again - what business is it of the gov't, what a free man eats, drinks, or smokes?

         Plenty, if the gov't (the people) are paying for it.

[powderman]

Our military is drug tested.  I have to be drug tested to maintain employment...we have to provide proof to have liability coverage for the company, and to enter various manufacturing facilities.
 
So...it's NOT ok for them to take my money and give it to people who buy drugs with it.
 
Ben

 
MECHANIC. Good post Sir, I agree.
Casull. Agreed Sir. 

[crustylicious]

Florida has it. Surprising results!
http://www2.tbo.com/news/politics/2011/aug/24/3/welfare-drug-testing-yields-2-percent-positive-res-ar-252458/
 

[DakotaElkSlayer]

Agree, but only if we open it up to ANYONE taking free government money.  Welfare, pell grants, interest free government loans, etc. 
 
Jim

[Sourdough]

Sounds good to me.

[ironglow]

That's gonna PO a lot of farmers getting welfare not to farm.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
   Hardly Junior;
  I know  lot of farmers and not one is a doper to my knowledge.  Farmers of today must be multifaceted, if they are to survive.  They must be shrewd businessmen, managers, personnel directors and have a fair knowledge of mechanics, electronics, animal husbandry, veterinary medicine, meterology and sundry other skills.  If they were dopers, they likely would not remain farmers for long..so such tests would create no apprehension for them !
   Incidently; contrary to other "welfare" checks, the ones handed to farmers got something in return..FOOD... for millions of Americans and non-Americans; even for those who refuse to work enough to earn their own food.

[turk762]

These poor people can't get a job because they can't pass a pee test, now you want to pull the rug out from under them and make them pee test for free money, you heartless
 B??rds. (sarcasm of course) I agree I see no problem with it.
 
 I have seen first hand the chemical and alcohol abuses of people on the system. And as for making the children suffer, the parents are already doing a fine job of making the suffer growing up in this environment. The children may be better off elsewhere instead of being used as debit card.

[powderman]

These poor people can't get a job because they can't pass a pee test, now you want to pull the rug out from under them and make them pee test for free money, you heartless
 B? ?rds. (sarcasm of course) I agree I see no problem with it.
 
 I have seen first hand the chemical and alcohol abuses of people on the system. And as for making the children suffer, the parents are already doing a fine job of making the suffer growing up in this environment. The children may be better off elsewhere instead of being used as debit card.

 
 
TURK. Good post Sir. POWDERMAN. 

[guzzijohn]

Quote from Ironglow:
" I know  lot of farmers and not one is a doper to my knowledge."


To my knowledge is the key word. There are farmers that smoke weed and there are farmers that grow it. They manage to do just fine farming. Back in the 80s many a farmer would have gone totally under if they had not been producing a "cash crop".
GuzziJohn