Florida Gov. Rick Scott signs law requiring welfare recipients to take drug test, ACLU objects


BY ALIYAH SHAHID
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, June 01, 2011


If Floridians want welfare, they better make sure they are drug-free.

Republican Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill on Tuesday that requires benefit recipients to undergo drug testing.

Applicants for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program who test positive for illicit substances won't be eligible for the funds for a year, or until they undergo treatment.

Those who fail a second time would be banned from receiving the funds for three years.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-06-01/news/29627456_1_aclu-objects-welfare-recipients-rick-scott

Your take?

All states should follow.

if they cant afford money to eat, how could they afford treatment?

will this be offered by the state as well? a year is a long time to try to survive without any means,,,,will the assistance be given in addition to the treatment or not until treatment is completed?


alot of potential problems here, Im sure its a way to screen the numbers down further and save money,,,,kind of like when they started doing background 'credit' checks on potential employees,,,


time will tell how this works out,,,

If they can afford drugs, they don't need taxpayer money.

There is a solution for all those that think drug users should get free food, housing, medical, etc. The ones that feel the drug users should get freebies can donate the money themselves.

if they can't afford to eat, how do they afford drugs?

if they can't afford to eat, how do they afford drugs?

why am I not surprised the ACLU objects????

I agree....if they can afford drugs, that should be used to eat or necessary bills, then why should the tax payers pay for it?

As far as rehab...the tax payers didn't get them on drugs, they did it to themselves. I wish them all a speedy recovery, but taxes should go to things that benefit the state/country. If people wish to contribute to a charity for this, that should be up to the individual...JMO

watch the crime rate in flordia go up now, because now they can't afford food or drugs...

Katt Williams said it best with "If you don't have a job or you aren't on drugs the I don't know wtf you are doing with your life!"

Huzzah!!

ya have to wonder how many are actually spending cash on drugs...

ever hear the term 'crack whore'

treatment for those who want it should be an option, i feel

I honestly don't see why people see the need to further humiliate the poor. So....rich people don't do drugs? C'mon', man. It's just another form of humiliation........

Cuz' yr rich you can do whatever you want, right? But....if yr poor.....you have to be a saint? Live under a microscope? Get real people........

The rich can afford to pay for their own feed, even if they are doing drugs. It's those who can't afford food and basic necessities, and yet find the funds for the drugs that need to get their priorities straight.

I am 10000000000% for drug testing of people getting government assistance. Besides for testing, I think I they should be investigated a WHOLE bunch more both when they apply for it and randomly while they receiving it to make sure they they should be getting it as the program was intended. Not because they're just too lazy to work or because they look at it as a 'free ride'. I see this kind of fraud all the time and I know quite a few people who've made a career out of 'working' the system like this. This includes faking or embellishing medical conditions as an excuse to not being able to work. Working under the table making decent money and collecting assistance on top of that. Purposely becoming a 'baby factory' to collect even more. Purposely staying under the income cap to be able to collect and so on and so on. I can't even count the number of times I see somebody who's perfectly healthy and is collecting every known type of assistance possible while driving a brand new car, has a flatscreen TV in every room of their decent house, eating like a king everyday and generally living better than many of the people who've worked their butt off their whole life! Is it just me or is there something wrong there? A friend of mine works for a welfare office near me and personally knows some of the people who's collecting there. She KNOWS several shouldn't be getting anything, but there's not a thing she can do about it because it's not part of her job. Bureaucracy at it's finest..... Another problem is with people who are getting assistance for legitimate reasons and WANT to work. I know several people like this who 'aren't allowed' to work for various reasons, but in all actuality are very capable to be productive. Or some who think they're ready to rejoin the workforce, but if they do and find that they really aren't, may not be able to go back to receiving assistance. It's about time government starts trying to fix the cause instead of the effect.

"If they can't afford money to eat, how could they afford treatment". I think you're missing the point (the way I see it anyway). If they're buying drugs, they have money to be able to eat, but choose to spend it on drugs instead. Effectively, they're using our tax money to get high... How many fat crackheads or tweekers do you see anyway? That's not because they don't have/can't get food.

In an ideal world....that would make sense. But....this is NOT an ideal world. You may not know about the nature of addiction.......... Oh, by the way.....the govt. IS the biggest drug dealer of all. They like the poor to be addicted. It's just another form of control......

it's not about priorities, it's about addiction

an addicts child shouldn't have to go without,
we have the resources to help

we need to start treating and stop punishing addicts..
it just isn't working

Well, like I told some friends when we were discussing it last night.... it might make me a cold B, but if the addict cares more for his/her drugs and the child/ren die from it, then they need to be sterilized. I'm all for any form of population control that we can get.

Ever notice that on every corner in any inner city there is a liquor store? Do you think that is by accident? Notice how crack and tar heroin seems to miraculously appear in the ghetto's first. This is no accident either.......

You do realize that that position is un-American, right?