Florida Legislator Wants Random Drug Tests For The Unemployed (And They Will Have To Pay For Them)

[WillyT]

From: RawStory
Florida legislator wants random drug tests for the unemployed
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Monday March 16, 2009

<snip>

Employers have justified drug tests in the workplace by pointing to such negative effects of drug use as absenteeism and work-related injuries. Now a Florida legislator has proposed that random drug-testing also be applied to those receiving unemployment insurance, justifying it as a way to make state funds go further.

Florida State Senator Michael S. Bennett told Fox News host Steve Doocy on Monday that with the unemployment rate in his recession-battered state running between 10% and 11%, he worries that the Unemployment Trust Fund might be exhausted.

"I wanted to ensure that people who are qualified for unemployment -- that the money would be there when they actually go down and get unemployment and that we weren't supporting the people who were not able to go to work," Bennett explained. "It was nothing against the people who were using the drugs as much as it was to ensure that the people who needed unemployment, it would be there when they got there."

Bill Piper of the Drug Policy Alliance, which is dedicated to ending the "war on drugs," responded that "to require someone to pass a drug test to get their unemployment insurance after they've been laid off is pretty cruel -- and to require them to pay for the test themselves is even more cruel."

"It's a pretty degrading process," Piper went on. "You have to urinate in front of another person. ... You have to tell complete strangers if you're on birth control or Viagra or if you're suffering from depression."

"Normal, everyday Americans shouldn't have to go through that," insisted Piper. "We're talking about people who've already paid into the unemployment system. They've been working hard already, and it's simply unfair to throw another hurdle to feeding their families."

"He makes a good argument," Doocy agreed. "Unemployment insurance is money that people have already paid into the system. Why shouldn't they get it if they're laid off?"

"When you file for unemployment," Bennett replied, "basically you're saying 'I'm ready, willing, and -- quote -- able to go to work. If the person who pays into the unemployment has to pass a drug test ... to pay into it, surely the people who are taking out would not object to having to pass the same stringent test. ... If you're not able to go to work because you can't pass a drug test, why should you draw unemployment?"

"Clearly the people he's talking about were already capable of working," Piper commented. "They shouldn't have to take a drug test to prove something to any one."

Bennett, who recently proposed freezing the pay of county clerks and commissioners and similar low-level state employees, may be sincere in saying he is only trying to save money. However, according to election disclosure forms, he did receive a $500 donation to his 2006 election campaign from Abbott Laboratories, which provides workplace drug test kits.

<snip>

Link (w\Video from Faux friends): http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Lawmaker_wants_drug_testing_for_unemployed_0316.html

And maybe we could require random STD Testing for all Florida Republican office holders!!!

:mad:

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Is there any freedom that a Republican doesn't want to take away?

Fucking hell.

Hey - asshole - how about this: how about we make CEOs pass an competency test before getting federal bailout money and keeping their jobs?

[FiveGoodMen]

10. There really isn't.

But it makes sense in this way: I think they want slavery back.

No, that's not me ranting. That's not hype. (I could be wrong, but that's another matter)

They know it won't sell to try and take away the personhood of all black people again, but if everyone has committed a crime, had to depend on the government for money, gotten into a credit crunch, whatever...

If almost everyone is on the hook in some way and has to do whatever they're told, then they've got their slaves again.

I'm pretty sure that's what's driving them.

(Ironic, I know, since the first Rep president abolished it)

[no_hypocrisy]

2. So if I'm fired or laid off, the presumption is I'm on drugs?

And I have the burden of proof to show that I'm not?

And that the only way to be unemployed and unaccountable to the government whether or not I'm taking drugs is to forego my legal right to unemployment benefits and starve . . . ?

[Missy Vixen]

3. I wrote about this on my blog a week ago

I'm wondering when that lawmaker is going to submit to a drug test himself. After all, he's paid with government funds, isn't he?

[BrklynLiberal]

4. I demand the exact same for all state and federal legislators!!!!

[Dollface]

7. Before every vote. And I want to see a summary of their bank deposits too.

[peace frog]

5. Oh hell, he's from Florida

We've come to expect this kind of shite from our state legislators. Someday I will be proud to be a Floridian. Someday, but not today.

[bushmeister0]

6. Mario Diaz-Balart pulled the same crap during the 90's, when Bubbah was

ending welfare as we know it.

Is Florida the dumbest state in the union, or what?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Michael Bennett? The well known ibogaine addict?

What a hypocrite.

[truedelphi]

9. I suggest we investigate the trillions of dollars that banks in FLA make off

Laundering the drug cartels money, instead.

[anonymous171]

11. Class Warfare. nt

[WillyT]

12. Kick !!!

:kick:

[ddeclue]

13. I think BILLY is the one on drugs...

DAMN I wish they would make the State legislature a full time job that pays decently so we could get rid of the part time idiots and wing nuts and lawyers needing a second job.

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[WillyT]

14. Kick !!!

:kick: