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Drug Screening Required for Welfare

AnonymousDeac

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Looking to actually happen in FL...

“While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,” Governor Scott said. “This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars.”
 
Looking to actually happen in FL...

“While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,” Governor Scott said. “This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars.”

Another obvious attempt to keep meth users down. Haters.
 
In a state that strapped for cash this will cost tens of millions of dollars per month. It's a perfect example of why he's a 29% approval.

Oh yeah his former company is one of the largest providers of such services in the state of FL. Another scumbag move by Scott.
 
The fear-fascist class-warriors win one. Look at 'em go! I can feel the bulge in jhmd's pants from here.

So the alcoholics are off the hook, huh? They can buy as much of their legal drug with state money as their little hearts desire. sweet, isn't it?

and don't forget that the coke and heroin users need only abstain for a couple of days to produce a clean urine sample, while the lowly pot smoker is 'dirty' for up to a month. nice unintended consequences should spring from this little slice of brilliance in Florida.
 
The fear-fascist class-warriors win one. Look at 'em go! I can feel the bulge in jhmd's pants from here.

So the alcoholics are off the hook, huh?

and don't forget that the coke and heroin users need only abstain for a couple of days to produce a clean urine sample, while the lowly pot smoker is 'dirty' for up to a month. nice unintended consequences should spring from this little slice of brilliance in Florida.

Interesting point and not something I'd previously considered. This will likely only ensnare marijuana users and hardcore addicts.
 
It's unconstitutional

Edited to add:
It should be unconstitutional, but with douche bags like Thomas and Alito on the court, who really knows?
 
FL can't afford to keep teachers on the job, but they can afford tems of millions per month in drug testing.
 
but legal addicts are just fine!! yay idiocy!!!

Agreed that it doesn't go far enough - legal addiction shouldn't be subsidized, either. But, this is an obvious first step, drawn along lines that have been idiotically established in other fights.

Personal accountability entitlement programs are necessary and appropriate. This one is probably not perfectly designed, just as Obamacare is probably not perfectly designed. Doesn't mean that we should just maintain the status quo with our thumbs up our asses while we go bankrupt or while masses go uninsured. In fact, a personal accountability component of Obamacare is the next logical step.
 
but legal addicts are just fine!! yay idiocy!!!

You actually make a great point, I totally agree w/ you.

And obviously some of these addicts would want/accept help, which I think they should be able to get.
 
Several major problems with this.

1. I don't remember all the specifics, but Scott or his wife are linked or have been linked to a drug testing company who would likely to benefit greatly from conducting the testing. That's a conflict of interest.

2. From the above article:

"Positive tests will carry an immediate six-month ban on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. A second positive test will result in a three-year ban on state assistance."

So if a child's parent is on drugs, the solution is to not give them assistance? Why would the children's suffer more because their parents are on drugs?

2b. The solution to a drug problem is simply to cut off their funding? If they're addicts, that's not really going to matter. The responsible thing would be to put them in drug treatment programs and get them off drugs in order to help them be more responsible parents. "Teach a man to fish..." and all that.

3. The Florida legislature approved has approved pilot drug testing programs in the past that found no difference in drug usage among welfare recipients and the population at large.

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...lfare-recipients-drug-testing-cash-assistance

If they had, they would have realized that back in 1998, the Florida Legislature approved a pilot project for the Jacksonville area and parts of Putnam County. The goal was to design and initiate a drug screening and testing program for applicants seeking cash assistance under the state's TANF program. The results weren't all that promising.

The pilot examined 8,797 applicants who participated in the initial screenings over an 18-month period and came to a stark conclusion. Drug use wasn't a problem. Only 335 applicants showed evidence of having a controlled substance in their system and failed the test. The low figure may raise concerns about the pilot's methodology, but there's still little justification for a new program that is likely to produce negligible results.
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Drug testing welfare recipients may make for good campaign speeches, but given the growing costs of Medicaid and problems of fraud in Medicare, Floridians would be better served if the next chief executive focuses on those more pressing problems.

It's not like there's big money to be made from abusing TANF benefits, the cash assistance program that is the state's core welfare program. There are 57,794 families in Florida receiving cash assistance, a figure that has been trending downward in recent years. On average, those families get $240 a month in assistance, peanuts on the rip-off scale when compared to other social services, particularly Medicare fraud.

4. From the article above:

"The law, which goes into effect on July 1, will mean about 4,400 drug tests per month, according to the Department of Children & Families. Taxpayers will reimburse welfare applicants for negative drug tests, which can cost between $10 and $25."

$10-$25 adds up as does the bureaucracy necessary to process reimbursement and conduct the tests.

5. This is Scott's core argument:

“While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction,” Governor Scott said. “This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars.”

OK. So then why go after welfare recipients getting $240 a month instead of people who are getting more substantial subsidies from the state government? Why not go after businesses getting tax cuts from the government? Heck, why not go after the teachers who instruct our children? There's no argument for going after welfare recipients and nobody else, especially since pilot programs show that welfare recipients don't have a bigger drug problem than anybody else.
 
Where is it in the constitution that grants an unalienable right to welfare?
 
Depends on your perspective - from the taxpayers' perspective it is a no brainer. The drug testing is substantially cheaper than the welfare benefits. The fact that they will only catch some of the druggies instead of all of them is no reason not to do it.

Personally, I am opposed to both, however.
 
Agreed that it doesn't go far enough - legal addiction shouldn't be subsidized, either. But, this is an obvious first step, drawn along lines that have been idiotically established in other fights.

Personal accountability entitlement programs are necessary and appropriate. This one is probably not perfectly designed, just as Obamacare is probably not perfectly designed. Doesn't mean that we should just maintain the status quo with our thumbs up our asses while we go bankrupt or while masses go uninsured. In fact, a personal accountability component of Obamacare is the next logical step.

drug screening welfare recipients is not going to prevent anyone from going bankrupt. It is going to transfer gov money to a drug screening company, and that's about it. It is going to make welfare recipients turn to alcohol and whatever other means they can to relieve stress, like all humans do. This is nothing more than appeasement of the frightened wing of our society - the fortunate ones who live in a lily-white world where everything not like them is terrifying. This is class warfare. Welfare is not making us go broke.
 
Is the goal to help people get off drugs or to save money?

If it is to save state money, how does that work? The welfare recipient loses the food money for the kids. the kids go hungry. they end up in a hospital receiving care on medicaid, or they turn to crime to get money for food and end up in state funded incarceration. or they end up at food banks and other food assistance programs.

I don't think this was a well thought-out law, I think it was appeasement of a foolish resentful constituency who can't see the forest for the trees.
 
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