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PassiveAgressive
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Registered: 10/16/09
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[FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs
#14546301 - 06/01/11 03:19 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/31/us-florida-welfare-drugs-idUSTRE74U6W320110531
TALLAHASSEE, Florida | Tue May 31, 2011 6:06pm EDT (Reuters) - Florida will begin testing welfare recipients for illicit drug use under a new law signed by Governor Rick Scott on Tuesday.
The measure makes Florida the only state to test all recipients of the federal program known as Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, according a Washington-based public policy group that says other states have chosen less obtrusive ways to monitor drug use.
The new law, a version of which was struck down by a federal court in Michigan in 2003, requires recipients to pay for the tests before qualifying for benefits and periodically after they receive them.
The law was one of Scott's campaign promises. Supporters say it will help ensure that taxpayer money is used to get families on their feet and not to fuel drug habits at state expense.
"While there are certainly legitimate needs for public assistance, it is unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction," Scott said in a statement released after he signed the bill during a visit to Panama City.
"This new law will encourage personal accountability and will help to prevent the misuse of tax dollars."
Beginning July 1, recipients who test positive for drugs would be denied benefits for a year. A second failed test would result in a three-year ban.
In two-parent households, both adults would be tested. Benefits to children could be awarded to a third-party recipient, who must also pass a drug screen.
The law will not affect the federal food stamp program.
Critics, including the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and Florida Legal Services, said they will decide in coming weeks if they plan to file suit against the law on the grounds that blanket drug tests are unconstitutional.
Federal law allows states to screen for drug use under the TANF program, which provides a maximum $300 a month cash assistance to needy families. The program, which replaced traditional welfare in the mid 1990s, has a 48-month lifetime cap on benefits.
Other states have studied the issue and decided testing all recipients was not cost effective, the Washington-based Center for Legal and Social Policy said in a study released in January.
Most states have drug assessment programs that do not include urine or blood tests. Some require drug tests from recipients who have been convicted of felony drug crimes.
During debate about the law, critics pointed to a pilot testing program in Florida that was shut down in 2001 after it showed no significant difference in drug use between welfare recipients and the population at large.
"The wasteful program created by this law subjects Floridians who are impacted by the economic downturn, as well as their families, to a humiliating search of their urine and body fluids without cause or even suspicion of drug abuse," said Howard Simon, executive director of ACLU Florida, in a statement.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Ellen Wulfhorst)
-------------------- (\___/) (= ‘.’=) (”)__(”) Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. - Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.
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Yrat
Hello

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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: PassiveAgressive] 1
#14546525 - 06/01/11 03:55 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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there is a difference between necessities and luxuries
-------------------- "There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root." -Henry David Thoreau Strike The Root
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kiss_the_sky03
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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: Yrat] 1
#14546558 - 06/01/11 04:02 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Good deal. Awesome! I got in here before all the kids start posting about what a terrible social-injustice this is.
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h4x354x0r
Hack Man


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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: kiss_the_sky03]
#14546596 - 06/01/11 04:11 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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...then the ones with drug problems will turn to dealing drugs for money, instead of leeching off the state. It won't keep tax money from being spent on drug problems, it will just cause the tax money to be spent differently (and probably less effectively).
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pootie
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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: h4x354x0r]
#14546723 - 06/01/11 04:39 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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What a terrible social-injustice this is.
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PassiveAgressive
Sleepy-_-kinoko!




Registered: 10/16/09
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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: pootie]
#14546947 - 06/01/11 05:28 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
pootie said: What a terrible social-injustice this is.
-------------------- (\___/) (= ‘.’=) (”)__(”) Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. - Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.
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PassiveAgressive
Sleepy-_-kinoko!




Registered: 10/16/09
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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: h4x354x0r]
#14546965 - 06/01/11 05:32 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
h4x354x0r said: ...then the ones with drug problems will turn to dealing drugs for money, instead of leeching off the state. It won't keep tax money from being spent on drug problems, it will just cause the tax money to be spent differently (and probably less effectively).
Perhaps this is a little off topic, but it isn't. I personally know of individuals who sell their food-stamps for real cash and/or drugs. Mostly the former. It happens every month, usually towards the beginning. Anyway, they'll mostly succeed in coercing people to move to harder, less metabolically visible drugs and spend a TON of taxes there and thereafter.
-------------------- (\___/) (= ‘.’=) (”)__(”) Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. - Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.
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Mush 4 Brains
about tree fiddy


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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: Yrat]
#14546966 - 06/01/11 05:32 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
Yrat said:

there is a difference between necessities and luxuries
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SickDog
Boozenpottenkooter


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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: Mush 4 Brains] 1
#14547025 - 06/01/11 05:46 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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i hope this becomes a trend amongst the rest of the states
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jerrylove
little bit further then I was



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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: SickDog] 1
#14547850 - 06/01/11 08:39 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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I find it refreshing that amongst shroomerites there is a consensus that tax dollars dont need to go to drug users or more specifically leeches on the system. I have to pass a drug test to make a pay check. I have taxes taken out of every check. Hell if it's ok for some slug to get to smoke dope (of all kinds) on my dime! Viva Libertarians!
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THOSE WHO KNOW DONT TALK! THOSE WHO DONT KNOW CANT TALK. (Timothy Leary) "Funny thing about weekends when your unemployed they don't mean quit so much except you get hang out with your workin' friends" Les Claypool
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Daramgeee
The Relaxed One

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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: jerrylove] 1
#14548871 - 06/02/11 12:35 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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I'm liking Florida already!!! If people want to buy drugs, then it should be done out of their pockets instead of hard earned tax money. Hope to see more of this policy in other states!
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thelivingfreekshow
Fuck You



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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: Daramgeee]
#14548922 - 06/02/11 12:48 AM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Why do you guys care so much that your tax $$ are not wasted this particular way? I could care less if 99% of my tax dollars went to buying someone crack, that money is going to be wasted by one govt entity or another, so somebody might as well get high off it.
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PassiveAgressive
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Registered: 10/16/09
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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: thelivingfreekshow] 3
#14551259 - 06/02/11 03:02 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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I don't like where any of this is going, Florida or the Shroomery. Cmon guys, we're better than that!
-------------------- (\___/) (= ‘.’=) (”)__(”) Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. - Prince Gautama Siddharta, the founder of Buddhism, 563-483 B.C.
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destructo_low
Oh yeah!




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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: jerrylove] 1
#14551290 - 06/02/11 03:07 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
jerrylove said:I have to pass a drug test to make a pay check. I have taxes taken out of every check.
I agree. Drug testing people on welfare is entirely fair. I wish they would use workfare programs instead of welfare though.
-------------------- There is a molecule for every purpose. There are only actions and reactions. Cut out the middle men. Everything I say is a lie.
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ifoundwaldo


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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: destructo_low] 1
#14552112 - 06/02/11 06:08 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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I am very torn on this issue.
I do not want my tax dollars going to someone so that they can get high. If someone's buying drugs with my money, they're fucking sharing with me.
On the flip side, this has the potential to fuck over a lot of families. For instance, a mother or a father on welfare with drug problems (not even a serious one necessarily- let's just say "pot") will not be able to feed their children. Not only that, but pot stays in your system for months; so now, welfare recipients are screwed out of the welfare system for months while they clean up.
At the end of the day though, you give up some freedoms when you're in a government program to receive welfare. People on probation get drug tested even when there is no suspicion that drug use is present; this is a bad example but a similar situation nonetheless.
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dondoodle
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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: destructo_low] 2
#14552238 - 06/02/11 06:36 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
destructo_low said:
Quote:
jerrylove said:I have to pass a drug test to make a pay check. I have taxes taken out of every check.
I agree. Drug testing people on welfare is entirely fair. I wish they would use workfare programs instead of welfare though.
No it is not fair you fool. For you to support an escalation of the drug war because "I have to pass a drug test to get a job" is a just plain ignorant position to take. If you are getting your nose chopped off by these drug war supporting corporations you think it is wise to advocate that other people get their nose chopped off too? Get some good sense you are being played like a fiddle and have become a pro-drug war puppet for the state and corporations who own the government.
You and others like you who support the drug war are full of hysteria and ignorance. Beer cannot be bought with electronic food stamps you moron. You think if people are somehow selling their food at 50% for some drugs that they cannot do that for alcohol and cigarettes?
You are illogical and full of rhetoric. With people taking your position it is little wonder people like Scott and other drug warriors get elected. Not to mention drug tests cost money and create bureaucracy. Wake up!
-------------------- End American imperialism and colonization around the world and among the people conquered within the domestic empire.
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thelivingfreekshow
Fuck You



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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: thelivingfreekshow]
#14552987 - 06/02/11 09:55 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
thelivingfreekshow said: Why do you guys care so much that your tax $$ are not wasted this particular way? I could care less if 99% of my tax dollars went to buying someone crack, that money is going to be wasted by one govt entity or another, so somebody might as well get high off it.
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kiss_the_sky03
human being



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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: dondoodle] 1
#14553032 - 06/02/11 10:03 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
dondoodle said:
Quote:
destructo_low said:
Quote:
jerrylove said:I have to pass a drug test to make a pay check. I have taxes taken out of every check.
I agree. Drug testing people on welfare is entirely fair. I wish they would use workfare programs instead of welfare though.
No it is not fair you fool. For you to support an escalation of the drug war because "I have to pass a drug test to get a job" is a just plain ignorant position to take. If you are getting your nose chopped off by these drug war supporting corporations you think it is wise to advocate that other people get their nose chopped off too? Get some good sense you are being played like a fiddle and have become a pro-drug war puppet for the state and corporations who own the government.
You and others like you who support the drug war are full of hysteria and ignorance. Beer cannot be bought with electronic food stamps you moron. You think if people are somehow selling their food at 50% for some drugs that they cannot do that for alcohol and cigarettes?
You are illogical and full of rhetoric. With people taking your position it is little wonder people like Scott and other drug warriors get elected. Not to mention drug tests cost money and create bureaucracy. Wake up!
Wow, this made me laugh so hard. We are the ones full of rhetoric? says the guys with this as his sig "End American imperialism and colonization around the world and among the people conquered within the domestic empire" You sure about that?
Edited by kiss_the_sky03 (06/02/11 10:04 PM)
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kiss_the_sky03
human being



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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: thelivingfreekshow]
#14553056 - 06/02/11 10:06 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
thelivingfreekshow said:
Quote:
thelivingfreekshow said: Why do you guys care so much that your tax $$ are not wasted this particular way? I could care less if 99% of my tax dollars went to buying someone crack, that money is going to be wasted by one govt entity or another, so somebody might as well get high off it.
I don't consider building roads, hospitals, funding public schools to be more of a waste than allowing bums to use my money to get high without doing shit.
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dondoodle
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Re: [FL] Florida to test all welfare recipients for drugs [Re: kiss_the_sky03] 1
#14553182 - 06/02/11 10:32 PM (12 years, 7 months ago) |
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Quote:
kiss_the_sky03 said:
Wow, this made me laugh so hard. We are the ones full of rhetoric? says the guys with this as his sig "End American imperialism and colonization around the world and among the people conquered within the domestic empire" You sure about that?
Yeah, American Imperialism is murdering millions around the globe and has been for decades, so that is fact not some short largely fraudulent rhetoric. I know, I know the "food stamp people" are hawking their steaks for crack on the corner.
What is nice short rhetoric is "those welfare people buy drugs with food stamps"
My statement is firmly based in reality and historical fact while yours is specious rhetoric.
-------------------- End American imperialism and colonization around the world and among the people conquered within the domestic empire.
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