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Are you arguing that this is just one of the perks of being really poor?
First--the Constitutional argument is the most important one. If you want to disagree, try disagreeing with that in a way that doesn't shred the right to privacy. Private employers can test as they wish, but those tests have NO repercussions beyond not getting a job...and there are always other jobs. The government is legally forbidden from invading our privacy without due process, which includes probable cause. And what about unemployment? That is NOT welfare--that is earned compensation, and it's nobody's business what people choose to spend it on. Yet, that is exactly what this legislator is proposing. Basically, this asshole is operating under the premise that being poor and needing Food Stamps, Medicaid, unemployment, etc. is a good enough reason to nullify the Constitutional rights of an enormous number of people. It doesn't matter what we think about what poor people spend their money on--the government does NOT have the right to go drug-testing people willy-nilly without probable cause. It is my opinion that receiving public assistance is NOT probable cause. I'd be interested in hearing your argument with that.
Secondly--you cannot spend Food Stamps and Medicaid on drugs. They are not cash--the stamps aren't even paper anymore in West Virginia, they're on an EBT card that's only usable by someone with the physical card and PIN number in-hand. I might be more open to this idea if we were *only* talking about cash welfare benefits, but we are not. This bill would apply to ALL public assistance--Food Stamps, Medicaid, WIC, TANF, emergency grants, LIEAP, etc. Many of these types of assistance are paid DIRECTLY to the vendor/creditor--like LIEAP, for example, which pays for heating during the winter months, or emergency grants that are paid directly to a landlord in event of an eviction notice. The money goes directly to the creditor, not to the poor person. Should we revoke food, heat, and medical care from poor adults and their children because Mommy or Daddy failed a drug test?
And about that failure--did you notice the part that says there's an enormous list of perfectly legal substances that can cause false positives? If a poor mother with three kids takes a pseudoephedrine cold medication the day before a urine test, there's a good chance that she'll come up positive for methamphetamine. Immediately, her Food Stamps, Medicaid, heating assistance, cash assistance, ALL of it will be revoked, and she won't get it back until she attends a hearing to appeal and explain. That can take WEEKS. But hey, it's okay if poor children starve and freeze while they're waiting for the hearing, right? Not that there's any guarantee of winning the appeal...even blood tests can give a false result, although it's rarer than with urine tests.
There are too many rights being compromised and too much room for error. The law is too broad. The stakes are WAY too high. I happen to agree with you that the poor shouldn't be spending their money on drugs, but we have NO foolproof way of telling with 100% certainty who's using drugs and who just ate a poppyseed muffin for breakfast or took a pseudoephedrine capsule. The basic survival needs of poor people and their children should NOT be dependent upon a drug test that is all too often wrong. The government does NOT have the authority to arbitrarily take away Constitutional rights just because people need a public service. What is Food Stamps today can easily be something else tomorrow. Having a driver's license is a privilege and a public service, for example. Would you support drug-testing all applicants for driver's licenses, and denying licenses to anyone who fails? What about Social Security benefits? Veteran's pensions and benefits? As the government looks to save money by eliminating or reducing spending, it becomes AWFULLY easy to start applying these Morality Rules to all kinds of benefits, after all.
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