South Carolina Wants to Drug Test

[discocrisco01]

In South Carolina, the AP http://www.thesunnews.com/news/local/story/1252070.html">reports that a bill written by a Republican state senator from Greenville will cut off benefits to unemployed people that test positive for drugs. His concern is that people with drug habits are using state funds to fund drug habits.

Instead of using the money the basic needs for day to day survival, the person will fund their drug habit. Some people think that this kind of testing will be intrusive aganist people's civil liberties.

The problem about this kind of legislation is that does nothing to curb drug usuage. It is uses a fear-based method to scare people to quit drugs without providing a clear path to cut their drug habit. A lot of people turn to drugs to cope with being unemployed

[asdjrocky]

1. Oh my fucking god.

Next they'll want to make sure you're not GLBT before you get the money you've earned.

These people are just too much to take.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

13. sssshhh............. don't give them any ideas

[Jamastiene]

33. Exactly!

:banghead:

[midnight]

2. War on drugs taking a new turn.....

[iamjoy]

3. Wow - Didn't Know SC Was Rolling In Cash

I've heard so much about the budget woes all the states supposedly had. It is encouraging to realize that one of our states is just so flush with money, they have helped all of their needy people and have sufficient funds left over to subject people out of work to drug tests.

Never mind that these tests aren't always accurate. If you are out of work in South Carolina, you better not have that poppy seed bagel.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Stupid. They've already paid for the unemployment. nt

[hayu_lol]

7. This freak really has a good idea...

In SC, they can start with the governor, follow that test with the entire elected slate of officials down to the local dogcatcher.

After that, then they can go after the unemployed.

[Nite Owl]

5. Wonder what would happen if all politicians

had to be drug tested periodically? That would be interesting.
I'm not for drug testing but it would reveal much hypocrisy methinks!

[Odin2005]

6. This is disgusting.

Typical Puke sociopathic thinking, denying help to those that need it the most because of a perceived moral failing. what's next? Denying benefits to openly gay people? Denying benefits to women that had an abortion? When will it end?

This is exactly the same kind of sick thinking behind not letting people use food stamps to buy alcohol.

[Frosty1]

24. Alcohol is food?

:shrug:

[rd_kent]

8. When politicians submit to drug testing, THEN we can discuss testing others....

[jwirr]

9. While I am glad my grandson has to be tested frequently because

he IS an addict I hope this idiocy is not passed.

[Dappleganger]

10. SC repukes need to point that mirror back at themselves. EOM

[hfojvt]

11. are they drug testing legislators?

Whoever came up with that idea sounds like he was one something. Friends don't let friends drink and write legislation.

[silenttigersong]

12. Unbelievable

I really thought this was a prank while reading it.:wtf:

[no_hypocrisy]

14. I guess he wants the unemployed to steal both to eat and shoot up then, huh?

[Blue_In_AK]

15. An Alaskan legislator is bringing up a similar bill

for consideration here this session, not for unemployed but for welfare recipients.

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/story/1085778.html

Another bill attracting attention is a proposal by Wasilla Republican Rep. Wes Keller for random drug and alcohol testing of Alaskans who receive public assistance.

Given the constitutional issues involved with the bill, it would likely be referred to Ramras' Judiciary Committee. Ramras said it is "a provocative notion" but one that is highly unlikely to pass the Legislature in the upcoming session.

"There are going to be many more-pressing issues that are going to have the opportunity to pass both bodies (of the Legislature) and I'm not that interested in having an academic dialogue about something that's not likely to move," he said.

Keller's House Bill 259 would require the state Department of Health and Social Services to implement a program for random and suspicion-based testing of recipients of adult public assistance for illegal drug use and for alcohol use "that impairs a recipient's ability to work or to seek work." It says the department "may" deny or suspend public assistance to someone who has tested positive. Several other states currently have bills proposing random testing for illegal drugs of welfare recipients. Keller takes it a step further and is also calling for testing for alcohol, a legal substance.

Wes Keller's a Palinbot -- she appointed him to the seat when Rep. Vic Kohring went to prison for his part in the VECO scandal -- so we expect this kind of nonsense from him. Hopefully he won't get very far with this.

[Captain Hilts]

17. Crazy, because it's expensive to implement and the unemp. have already paid for it. nt

[Name removed]

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[The Midway Rebel]

18. ...Continuing the War on the American Pot Smoker

This is aimed at working class dopers. Why?

Revenge: Because they voted big "D" in the last election?

What say you?

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. They have tried this in other states too and it has been shot down

due to the expense. The states can't afford it.

[Flaneur]

23. There's also that little matter of it being unconstitutional.

Suspicionless drug testing of people by the government is a violation of the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. A Michigan law to do this got thrown out by the federal appeals courts a few years ago.

But some whackjob in the Kansas legislature tried it last year. There were actually three or four states that tried it last year. It passed in none of them.

[DemoTex]

20. That's my state! Good ole SC. Atavistic to the core.

I can't wait to get back to Oregon for the summer.

[sharp_stick]

21. I think we should drug test

State legislators, and this being SC we should also insist that they all wear GPS locater devices just in case they decide to hike the Appalachian trail.

[Flaneur]

22. Idiot legislator is unfamiliar with the Constitution.

Something like this passed in Michigan a few years ago. Somebody, probably the good old ACLU, filed a lawsuit challenging the program as an unconstitutional warrantless search. They won in district court and they won in the federal appeals court.

See, we have rights to protect us from the government. Workers who work for private employers have no such rights, which is why their bosses can drug test them.

[Gman2]

25. And it would be somple to find three month old pot metabolites.

Bottom line is, Rethugs want to use the recession to cull as many undesirables as possible. They want those people to starve, and die, although not so quickly.

[RedCappedBandit]

26. This country is in love with the war on drugs

Therefore I am not surprised.

More stupidity.

[jmowreader]

27. Just another step on the road to drug testing every working class person

They want everyone applying for a job to be tested, and now they want everyone who doesn't have a job due to no fault of their own to be tested too.

Next it will be "let's have a cop with a sack full of mouth swab kits walk down Main Street and randomly test passersby."

I believe there is a place for drug testing, but this isn't it.

[Mopar151]

28. Problems, problems

These fools don't think this stuff through. By the time the 5-panel test is bought and admistered, you are looking at $100/test. If you are serious about the tests not being compromised, that cost goes up exponentially! There is a whole industry devoted to beating these tests, for good reason - because they test for metabolites, not direct drug traces, the priority weighting is all wrong. Coke can leave in 3 days, pot can take a couple months, and the 5-panel doesn't even test for LSD, many tranquilizers, or alcahol abuse. And the subject has little recourse, 'cuz they shove a page of fine print at you on the day of the test, so you essentially accept the test as infallible - and it is anything but.
I worked in a place that went through this, so they could be FAA certified. The net result was that we lost a good welder, and it turned the straw boss into a nuclear bitch. And the money that was wasted could have bought us enough new tooling to be really able to DO the work. But I digress....
IMHO, this is nothing more than an attempt to harass anyone they can , for the crime of thinking differently.

[kentuck]

29. The people should pass a law to have all politicians drug-tested..

That would end this nonsense.

[KamaAina]

30. Tell them to drug test all politicians entering the state from Argentina

:P

[AnnieBW]

31. They should drug-test Republicans!

Or test them to see if they've been dipping their peckers where they don't belong.

[TheWraith]

32. I'm fairly certain that that constitututes unreasonable search under the 4th Amendment.

The 4th requires probable cause, resulting in the issuance of a warrant. Blanket testing does not count as probable cause.

[Jamastiene]

34. They should Brain Test Republicans. n/t