I love when people are well informed, what I don’t love is people who take half of the story and run with it. There has been a story floating around that Kentucky recipients of public assistance will now have to undergo regular drug testing. That information is only partially correct, proposed bill HB208 has not been passed in the state of Kentucky, yet. Here is the outline of the substance use policies under the proposed bill:
(b) An adult person shall be ineligible for public assistance if:
2. The person tests positive in a substance abuse test administered by the program for the presence of:
a. A schedule I controlled substance; orb. A schedule II – V controlled substance not prescribed for that person.
(c) The substance abuse testing component of the screening program shall be designed so as to require that testing occurs as an initial condition precedent prior to the receipt of public assistance and once for each subsequent year the adult person receives public assistance, with the person being randomly assigned a month within that year to submit to testing upon receipt of reasonable notice from the cabinet.(d) The results of testing conducted under this subsection shall not be admissible in any criminal proceeding without the consent of the person tested.
(e) The secretary shall by administrative regulation prescribe the design, operation, and standards for the implementation of this section.”So to clear up the rumor, no one has to get drug tested yet and my information is from the house bill draft dated 1-26-11. Now here’s my issue, if people receiving public assistance had to get drug tested, so what? I had this conversation with one of my professors and a really good friend of mine the other day and they brought up some really good points.
The first point is that most companies require their new hires to undergo initial drug screening and then have them agree to random drug screening at the company’s request. Not only that, it has become an OSHA standard that if there is an accident on the job, then the person involved in the accident must be drug screened within a predetermined amount of time. So, my first question is, if people who get up and go to work every day have to submit to random drug testing, then why should the people that the working people are supporting not have to?Secondly, in this economy, those who are on public assistance are receiving a steady check, section 8, health benefits, food stamps and in many cases, energy assistance at tax payer expense and working people are fighting to make ends meet. The nerve of people who are receiving public assistance to complain about being drug tested is ludicrous. Why should the tax payers fund someone else’s addiction? The way I see it, the only people who have anything to worry about are the people who are using their government checks to buy dope every month. If it were left up to me, there would be alcohol testing as well. Why? Well, lets just say this, if the government wanted people to be able to used their assistance on alcohol, then they would be allowed to buy it with food stamps, and they’re not. I think the message from the government regarding using public assistance for alcohol is “we’re not paying for that”.
I have also heard people voice concerns about what happens to the children when the government money is taken away? Be reasonable, if a person is smoking, drinking or shooting up their money (including selling food stamps) every month, how many physical needs of the child are truly being met. What kind of environment is a child living in when the person or persons who are supposed to be taking care of them are strung out? Whether the government stops payments or the money goes up in smoke, the money is there for the child. This will be the time where people will have to choose between their drugs and their kids. If people choose the drugs over their kids, then the kids need to be relocated into a more nurturing and positive environment anyway.Don’t get me wrong, I think there needs to be an implementation process that helps people to get clean as well as some sort of reaching out to potential applicants with substance abuse histories. I think I’m being nice in that assertion because when the government was going to cut people off of unemployment, it was virtually without notice. This is just the tip of the iceberg on my rant about public assistance, I think that system needs a complete and total overhaul, anyway.
If I have to test to get MY money, I damn sure think those on assistance need to test to get my money too. Yup, I said it.Share
1 comment:
This will save some money that will go somewhere else.
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