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Well said, Kikiriki. Even if we set aside all the debate about civil rights and de-criminalizing drugs and how we treat the poor in this country, we can look at it this way:
It will be a colossal waste of tax payers money.
The money spent will most likely line the pockets of our rat of a governor, who's wife has shares in the company that will do the testing.
No research has ever determined the need for this legislation, or that it is an effective means of reducing drug abuse. We will be spending MILLIONS of dollars to drug test people who have never used, and likely never will use, drugs - to recoup just a few thousand dollars in aid money. And are we going to provide drug treatment to those that test positive? Don't make me laugh. Those programs are being cut left and right by the same rat that is implementing this.
I've lost a job I love thanks to the budget cuts. I know some cuts needed to happen, and I'm okay with that. I'm a social worker in an urban high school, working with teen mothers to make sure they graduate and have a plan for supporting themselves and their children, as well as try to make them the best mothers they can be. Teach them how to raise children that will be non-violent and sucessful in school. We have numbers to support the effectiveness of my program, but that doesn't matter. Instead money that COULD HAVE saved my job is being spent on a worthless program that will not help anyone - except the rat. And it makes me SO VERY ANGRY. I demand better of my elected officials.
Furthermore, state laws tying welfare to drug testing have been challenged before and found unconstitutional. Why is the governor, when he campaigned to get people to work and reduce our debt, willing to risk tying up our states monies in legal wrangling over this grandstanding? The same goes for the random drug testing of all state employees regardless of job status. This will be challenged and more legal fees will add up while the state trys to defend something that has already been found to be unconstitutional. Why put us in this position?
That said, what is the next step after drug testing for recipients? Testing for tobacco?
And for whomever said, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back many pages ago that the state employees shouldn't be complaining, they got what they voted for, I can assure you, state employees were not voting for our governor. He made it clear from the get go that he'd be cutting the benefits we receive in lieu of a living wage once elected and no one in this depressed state with high unemployment was willing to vote for a pay cut. It was a very close race and unfortunately this guy won.
Yeppers! He is pretty fun actually. I'd love to do a hunt with him but when I was more serious about it and he offered that (it all cost $$ ya know) my x wife was preggers with our middle boy and the money wasn't there for a guided hunt when I could just go out back..
