http://www.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/05/florida.welfare.drug.testing/index.html Make it Federal and also require it for anyone wanting any other form of government assistance...including Social Security, Unemployment etc. Should also involve denying welfare etc to anyone that owes back taxes, including corporations. Military are expected to stay drug free to earn government paychecks. Why is it not reasonable for those applying for Welfare to be denied the ability to channel those benefits to buy meth?

My only gripe is the financial side of it as far as paying for the drug tests and what not.

Welfare propaganda is so stupid I don't even pay attention to this sort of thing anymore, but this has nothing to do with drug testing. It's about forcing people off the state welfare rolls. They keep coming up with "common sense" stuff that is just there to make get people off the roster. They don't give a shit about drugs, drugs means more money for their prison running croneys.

I'd rather see Federal congressmen, their employees , and Federal contractors randomly drug tested. At least then we'd know the answer to "what were they smoking when they passed that legislation?"

It has merits under circumstance but this is really a case of using a sledgehammer when a scalpel is called for. (small limited government indeed)
if this applied to cash grant applicants i would see zero issues but what if this is was a an admitted substance abuse struggling single mother looking for food stamps to keep her two young children feed? would you be willing to deny a WIC grant to an 18 yo mother because she smoked a little reefer? even better lets yank medical coverage from an infant insuring that the child doesnt get the needed immunizations and when we have an out break of pertussus(sp) we just claim it is god punishing the parent because they have an addiction but good lordie look at the money we saved to put towards building some more cruise missiles.
Honestly the money they are going to spend on this thing would be better served in more intensive fraud prosecution. that and the greater argument of whether this newest salvo in the long running and lost war on drugs is even necessary.

LOL San, even better lets swab their penises every morning and see how often the DNA is a match for their actual spouses.

LOL San, even better lets swab their penises every morning and see how often the DNA is a match for their actual spouses.

As long as you are holding the Qtip. McCain will come at you with that old wrinkly ding-dong and you will be looking for a new career.

:devil

Hey cool let's masquerade our Racism as Patriotism and stop the browns from getting fat off the government hog

"what if this is was a an admitted substance abuse struggling single mother looking for food stamps to keep her two young children feed?"

You are kidding, right?

If a single mother is a drug addict, than she has no business being a mother. The two are mutually exclusive. "Mother" and "Drug Addict". Besides, drugs are not free. If she can afford to buy dope than she can buy her kids food, maybe take a night class and maybe forgo the welfare sooner rather than later.

Look, half of what is being implied here is if you are down on your luck and need a hand, great. However, there has to be some glimmer of an attempt at being responsible to perhaps make Welfare be a last resort as intended instead of a means to just be a piece of shit drag on the tax payer. States should not have to axe public infrastructure and services so someone can stay home and meth up with their neglected kids. As it is that does not offer much incentive to kick the drug habit.

And besides, (this one is for Malse) is there something wrong with getting people off welfare if there is abuse of it going on? You guys seem to almost reason that the faster we spend the government's money, the faster it will collapse and the revolution occurs. Honestly it might be less painful for the government to just stop spending so much but /shrug. Anyway, Walmart has ammo on sale. Stock up now.

Going to euthanize her kids then Lumm? Because something has to be done about them if you're not willing, and that something is going to be welfare. I'd be perfectly fine with firing up the Soylent Green machine for a whole host of reasons, but somehow I really doubt most people would be.

At least there's always Planned Parenthood to help reduce the number of children in that situation. Oh, wait...

Going to euthanize her kids then Lumm? Because something has to be done about them if you're not willing, and that something is going to be welfare. I'd be perfectly fine with firing up the Soylent Green machine for a whole host of reasons, but somehow I really doubt most people would be.

So the status quo is fine than? Leave the current system as is and allow kids to stay under the care of people who can't even take care of themselves?

I am not offering any perfect solution but the reason some drugs are illegal is because they are destructive. Tax money should not go towards destructive behavior without some pushback. Either denying benefits or mandating getting treatment in order to keep them. There really is NO money saved, but it might keep some kids from being directly raised by junkies. Either way, the government should not be supplying money for people who will probably blow it on shit that is at the very least destructive and no matter how you cut it, is illegal. Might as well legalize it all if you are going to hand money to junkies no questions asked. Heh, its the same reason I would rather buy a bum food than give him money. At least the guy will get something to eat. Otherwise, who knows.

Do you have any evidence to support the notion that very many welfare families are actually headed up by crackies? There seem to be some pretty blatant stereotypes underlying your position. What makes you think drug abusing parents aren't losing their children to child services before this scenario is actually playing out for any significant time?

Tax money should not go towards destructive behavior without some pushback.

Renal failure is becoming a huge problem that accompanies high blood pressure (which is almost always present in people with most stages of metabolic syndrome). Once you're on dialysis, you're on Medicare.

I'd bet those people-of-Wal-Mart guzzling down the McDonald's and 64oz Cokes cost most in a year of dialysis than a welfare kid does his or her entire childhood.

I don't like the idea of people cheating the welfare system, but it's a red herring just like pork spending. It's bad, sure, but it's a tiny drop in the bucket compared to what's actually taking us down.

Do you have any evidence to support the notion that very many welfare families are actually headed up by crackies?

No. Its not tested for. There must be basis in fact, unless of course this really is the pie in the sky method dreamed up by a political figure as so implied by some people just to screw the down trodden out of welfare that a broke state government can barely afford. I am not going to try to dig it up because....well, it really doesn't matter. What I do know is just about all you need to do in order to get welfare is prove you are without a doubt unable to financially support yourself, which probably requires less basis in fact than any request for evidence to support a claim that many welfare families are headed by junkies.

Otherwise all I can say is.....Look. I get it. It might make no sense to bother going after drug users when so many other welfare recipients are drunks or survive exclusively on McDonald's and candy. Being a drunk and being morbidly obese is not illegal while being just as destructive as drug use so why even make drugs illegal while the other two aren't... blah blah blah. The thing is, drugs are illegal and if it is not a criteria for deniable of welfare than perhaps it should at least be addressed. If not that than there has to be something people can do in exchange for the benefits. Pick up trash off the streets or whatever. Whatever their skill set offers or whatever they can be taught as long as it is something that leads to constructive behavior other than sitting at home, on an ever vastly growing ass, eating junk food, getting drunk and/or high on the tax payer's dime while doing nothing to better their situation.