States to Require Mandatory Random Drug Testing for Aid

(AP) Lawmakers in at least eight U.S. states want recipients of food assistance, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing.

The effort comes as more Americans turn to these safety nets to ride out the recession. Poverty and civil liberties advocates fear the strategy could backfire, discouraging some people from seeking financial aid and making already desperate situations worse.

Those in favor of the drug tests say they are motivated out of a concern for their constituents' health and ability to put themselves on more solid financial footing once the economy rebounds. But proponents concede they also want to send a message: you don't get something for nothing.

"Nobody's being forced into these assistance programs," said Craig Blair, a Republican in the West Virginia Legislature who has created a Web site - notwithmytaxdollars.com - that bears a likeness of himself advocating this position. "If so many jobs require random drug tests these days, why not these benefits?"

Blair is proposing the most comprehensive measure in the U.S., as it would apply to anyone applying for food assistance, unemployment compensation or the federal programs usually known as welfare.

Lawmakers in other states are offering similar, but more modest proposals.

On Wednesday, the Kansas House of Representatives approved a measure mandating drug testing for the 14,000 or so people getting cash assistance from the state, which now goes before the state senate.

In February, the Oklahoma Senate unanimously passed a measure that would require drug testing as a condition of receiving welfare benefits, and similar bills have been introduced in Missouri and Hawaii.

A Florida senator has proposed a bill linking unemployment compensation to drug testing, and a member of Minnesota's House of Representatives has a bill requiring drug tests of people who get public assistance under a state program there.

A January attempt in the Arizona Senate to establish such a law failed. - CBS News Story

I don't see where the issue would be for this. If the government is giving you financial support using our tax dollars, why wouldn't it be prudent to be sure that the you are not wasting money on illegal activities. Furthermore, if you can afford to be supporting a drug habit, then we shouldn't be supporting you. If you need assistance getting off that habit, then that should be made available to you with stricter drug testing guidelines for further aid.