Florida welfare drug testing

[ams4776]

Goes in efffect july 1st. Hope all states jump on board! I had assistance for a while and would have had NO prob with testing. If you want gov't assistance for anything then you should be clean....otherwise get to rehab and all that money mighy just be enough. Lol

 

[Beekissed]

I would have to say, though I would love to see this happen for various reasons, it isn't constitutional. Bus drivers know when they take a job that they may be randomly drug tested and it is for a reason....public safety. As a nurse, I know that I may be subjected to random drug testing and for the very same reason, my patient's safety.

Welfare recipients do not have other people's lives in their hands, so drug testing has no other reason than to insure their benefits are not being used for drugs.

If that is the reason, then SSI recipients should be subjected to the same treatment. SSI is not a right either....many SSI recipients have not held a job in their life~children, elderly, nonworking spouses, etc. Our taxes pay for both programs, so arguing that our taxes should not pay for other's drug habits is just a knee-jerk reaction to the outrage of the idea of it. But...think of all the prescription drug abuse taking place right now by the elderly and not so elderly people on SSI that we are indeed funding.

Teachers are paid by our tax dollars and all government workers, for that matter....are they all required, before they can pick up their checks, to do mandatory drug testing? Nope. At best they may be subjected to random drug testing but I've yet to see this happen in any school I've known.

If they are going to do this thing, then it should certainly be random and the recipients should know this is a condition of welfare benefits. But, it should also be instituted for SSI recipients, Pell Grant or government loan recipients, etc, as well. If all government assistance programs are going to require it, it should be ALL and not just target one program.

 

[Stacykins]

Wow, all the states need this! If you sign the paperwork to get state aid, you give implied consent to drug testing, just like when you get your drivers license! No druggies should be feeding their habits on state and federal aid. If you can afford drugs, you can afford to take care of yourself.

 

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
In Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967), the Supreme Court ruled that the amendment's protections do not apply when the searched party lacks a "reasonable expectation of privacy".

When applying for public assistance your entire household is picked apart, your financial records, your criminal record, your relationship with each person in your home, everything... this is all done VOLUNTARILY by the applicant. Thus I'd say that when you turn in that application (with all those question on it) you can safely figure the applicant knows that they have no privacy, that surrendering that privacy is part of the screening process and that they are choosing to willingly submit to that lack of privacy of their own free will... which according to the SC would rule out probable cause requirement.

One take on it anyways...

 

[Beekissed]

The same could be said when applying for a home loan or even your first visit to a doctor's office. Just because you fill out forms with private info it doesn't mean you are surrendering your rights to privacy.

 

[ams4776]

Only prob with SSI is the people who have paid into it. Not like you can say no ill take care of myself. Now for those who didnt pay into it themselves are getting spouses pay. You have to pay for SSI when working you DONT have to ask for assistance at all. Test all on it first filter out the bad then go for the random to keep people on their toes. But SSI is different since you were forced to pay into it. Heck I've been putting money in but not enough yet to quality for it if I were of age.

 

[ams4776]

Quote:
Those aren't the same as asking for free money and food from other peoples hard work

 

[Beekissed]

I'm pretty sure we have no choice about paying into the welfare system either....

We are all forced to pay taxes for these government program...so saying you have the right to not be tested if you have paid into a system should apply to all those who have held a job at one time or another and then had to go on welfare. I guess we should only test the welfare recipients who have never worked or whose spouses have never worked? Or even whose parents have never worked and paid into but never used the welfare system?

Makes sense....

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
Actually they do. Welfare is actually intended to help families with CHILDREN/And or/Indigent Elderly .. at least that's how it's worded in my state. It may be different in others.

 

[Beekissed]

So, by that definition, all parents need to be mandatory drug tested?