Georgia Senate OKs drug tests for welfare applicants

rockin'robin

rockin'robin

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ATLANTA (Reuters) - Adults applying for welfare in Georgia would have to pass a drug test before receiving benefits under a bill approved by the state Senate late on Wednesday.

The legislation, called the Social Responsibility and Accountability Act, is designed to ensure that welfare payments, called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, are "not diverted to illicit drug use."

The legislation, which now goes to the Georgia House, would not affect welfare payments to children. Under the bill, if a parent failed a drug test, children could still receive payments through another person designated by the state.

Two states, Michigan and Florida, have adopted similar legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The Michigan Court of Appeals in 2003 ruled that state's law unconstitutional. Florida's law has been temporarily blocked by a federal lawsuit.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia opposes the drug-testing requirement, the organization's executive director, Debbie Seagraves, told Reuters.

"Blanket drugs tests of any kind by the government are unconstitutional," she said.

Seagraves predicted Georgia would face a lengthy court fight over the legislation if it won final passage and is signed into law.

Republican State Senator John Albers, one of the sponsors of the bill, told Reuters he was confident the legislation would withstand any court challenges.

Welfare reform legislation passed by Congress in 1996 specifically allows states to require drug testing, he said. The Georgia bill is aimed at encouraging welfare recipients to stop using illegal drugs, Albers added.

"True compassion is doing what is best for people, not the easiest," he said.

Georgia Senate OKs drug tests for welfare applicants - Yahoo! News
 
Good for Georgia!

If employers can test for drugs prior to and during employment then it should be okay to test welfare recipients too! I support it!
 
Wirelessly posted (Blackberry Bold )

I think it's a great idea!

I honestly have no idea why mandatory drug testing in these situations wasn't made a requirement decades ago.

Tax-payers are legally required to pay thousands of their own hard earned dollars annually in taxes to fund various government "assistance programs" providing the poor with monies for food, housing etc.
Because of that (especially since none of the monies are ever paid back by the recipient!), the government and tax-payers should absolutely have the right to demand mandatory drug testing, both in to be initially approved, and randomly for the entire duration the person is receiving assistance.

Why should tax-payers or the governemnt be paying for someone's milk,bread, eggs, housing & clothing -if that same person is spending hundred or thousands of dollars on drugs &/or alcohol each month! ... Money they could and show be using to buy food instead
 
Foxrac said:
The drug test for welfare recipient raises constitutional question because it is unconstitutional to perform drug test on anyone who apply for government benefits - violate the 4th Amendment.
Florida's welfare drug testing halted by federal judge - Florida - MiamiHerald.com
snopes.com: Drug Tests for Welfare Recipients

Don't eat poppy seeds when you have drug test and they will show positive.
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You do bring up a good point. The false positives concern me.

On the other hand, nobody is forced to participate in Welfare programs. I don't see why it's a violation of the 4th amendment to tell people if they want government dependency in one area, they have to agree to drug tests.
 
When TCS and I were in the Navy, we were regularly tested for drugs. Sometimes it was random, sometimes it was part of our annual physicals.

The policy at that time was, if you tested positive you were tested again. One positive wasn't enough.

Once a test started (that is, the donor and watcher entered the restroom), neither could leave the room until the test was finished.

Before each test we had to provide a list of all prescription and non-presciption meds. That way, if it was positive and any of those meds were potential false positive triggers, it wouldn't be considered a positive.

Until we retired, we stayed away from any food with poppy seeds.

During my last tour of duty, I was the senior enlisted woman at our command, so I was also the designated "watcher" for enlisted and officer women. (Female watcher observes for "positive flow" during pee test; that is, the donor kept the stall door open so I could be sure the pee was flowing from the body. Male watchers watch the guys at the urinals.)
 
Reba said:
When TCS and I were in the Navy, we were regularly tested for drugs. Sometimes it was random, sometimes it was part of our annual physicals.

The policy at that time was, if you tested positive you were tested again. One positive wasn't enough.

Once a test started (that is, the donor and watcher entered the restroom), neither could leave the room until the test was finished.

Before each test we had to provide a list of all prescription and non-presciption meds. That way, if it was positive and any of those meds were potential false positive triggers, it wouldn't be considered a positive.

Until we retired, we stayed away from any food with poppy seeds.

During my last tour of duty, I was the senior enlisted woman at our command, so I was also the designated "watcher" for enlisted and officer women. (Female watcher observes for "positive flow" during pee test; that is, the donor kept the stall door open so I could be sure the pee was flowing from the body. Male watchers watch the guys at the urinals.)
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Poppy seeds and hemp products. Natural foods stores sell a lot of products made from hemp seeds- not the kind that get you high, but they can still cause a false positive.

My husband had to do the routine drug tests when he was active duty, too. He has 'bashful bladder syndrome' and hated them for that reason. No matter how much he needed to go, he had trouble, um, relaxing, when somebody was standing there staring at him.
 
Grayma said:
You do bring up a good point. The false positives concern me.

On the other hand, nobody is forced to participate in Welfare programs. I don't see why it's a violation of the 4th amendment to tell people if they want government dependency in one area, they have to agree to drug tests.
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Because drug test for welfare recipients are against based on unreasonable searches and seizures, under 4th Amendment and government employees can't be drug tested without any suspicious. I'm not sure about military but I think that military still have constitutional rights.

Just wait and let US Supreme Court rule on this issues.
 
Foxrac said:
Because drug test for welfare recipients are against based on unreasonable searches and seizures, under 4th Amendment and government employees can't be drug tested without any suspicious. I'm not sure about military but I think that military still have constitutional rights.

Just wait and let US Supreme Court rule on this issues.
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Military people routinely get drug tested on a random basis. That means, there doesn't have to be a suspicion or reason. In my unit, someone would draw a number (0-9) out of a container. Everyone whose SSN ending in that number would have to be tested that day. Or, the names of the units would be put into a container, and someone would draw the name of that unit, and the whole unit would be tested. We never knew who would be next, or when it would happen.

In the military, there's pretty much no such thing as an unreasonable search. They can search your body, your car, your work locker, your barracks room, your shipboard bunk, your desk at work, or base housing. The gate guards do random searches of vehicles entering the base (including civilian visitors). Some of the searches are visual, some use sniffer dogs.
 
Grayma said:
...My husband had to do the routine drug tests when he was active duty, too. He has 'bashful bladder syndrome' and hated them for that reason. No matter how much he needed to go, he had trouble, um, relaxing, when somebody was standing there staring at him.
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Oo, that's rough.
 
Reba said:
Military people routinely get drug tested on a random basis. That means, there doesn't have to be a suspicion or reason. In my unit, someone would draw a number (0-9) out of a container. Everyone whose SSN ending in that number would have to be tested that day. Or, the names of the units would be put into a container, and someone would draw the name of that unit, and the whole unit would be tested. We never knew who would be next, or when it would happen.

In the military, there's pretty much no such thing as an unreasonable search. They can search your body, your car, your work locker, your barracks room, your shipboard bunk, your desk at work, or base housing. The gate guards do random searches of vehicles entering the base (including civilian visitors). Some of the searches are visual, some use sniffer dogs.
Click to expand...

The military is a whole other way of life. When we lived in Okinawa a couple of guys got sunburned so badly they had to go see the doctor adn be excused from work.

They gotten written up for 'destruction of government property. ' THEY were the 'property.'

At least, that's the story that went around all the time.:giggle:
 
Foxrac said:
Because drug test for welfare recipients are against based on unreasonable searches and seizures, under 4th Amendment and government employees can't be drug tested without any suspicious. I'm not sure about military but I think that military still have constitutional rights.
.
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Not much, they don't. They operate under the UCMJ, and the military members have been subject to random drug tests for at least thirty years that I know of.
 
Of course the can drug test them legally. It's just one of the conditions for receiving welfare.
 
Grayma said:
The military is a whole other way of life. When we lived in Okinawa a couple of guys got sunburned so badly they had to go see the doctor adn be excused from work.

They gotten written up for 'destruction of government property. ' THEY were the 'property.'

At least, that's the story that went around all the time.:giggle:
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The destruction of government property might be a bit of a stretch but the getting written up part may be true.

TCS (Hubby) was stationed on a minesweeper when he broke his dominant arm rollerskating. The CO was not happy that he had to be on limited duty for several weeks. TCS was ordered by the CO to not skate again while he was assigned to the ship. He was serious.
 
TXgolfer said:
Of course the can drug test them legally. It's just one of the conditions for receiving welfare.
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Kind of funny. As a condition, get tested for drugs in order to receive welfare support. Simple, yet a reasonable request. Yet people complain about this arrangement saying it's a "violation" of one's right but then you have the govt force people to pay for health insurance against their will. How surreal.
 
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