Drug Test Floridian Welfare Recipients, or Protect the Constitutional Rights of All Americans?

The following debate originally took place upon the Facebook wall of an acquaintance…

Arielle K.: Florida is the first state that will require drug testing when applying for welfare (effective July 1st)! Some people are crying this is unconstitutional. How is this unconstitutional yet it’s okay that every working person had to pass a drug test in order to support those on welfare? Re-post if you agree!!! Let’s get welfare back to the ones who NEED it, not those that just WANT it!

Sara K.: Disagree. A lot of people on welfare were once working class citizens, therefore it was there own tax paying dollars that are being paid to give them a hand up. I don’t think jobs or welfare should be able to ask you for your bodily fluids. Nobody but a doctor should need to get your piss. If we keep allowing our constituional rights to be stripped from us, then what’s next?

Sara J.: Why not? When I went into the military I had to give blood, and to be a teacher I had to be fingerprinted, why is it that those who want something for nothing scream bloody murder when asked to prove they deserve the benefits, or are even entitled to them, when plenty of jobs require the same thing…if you want something, prove you need and deserve it.

Sara J.: This also goes for fingerprinting, especially, everyone should be fingerprinted and then when people try to pull scams they would get caught…it’s only the criminals who scream because they know they can no longer max out somelthing their not entitled to…or get caught and locked up…

Sara J.: Imaging if fingerprints were part of drivers licenses and welfare benefits, that means no more double dipping, no more illegals on benefits and drivers licenses, pedophiles who have multiple licenses and criminals with various names would all get caught…what a concept, catching the criminals and punishing them for their actions….

Sara J.: If you truly need help because you were laid off, you also shouldn’t have enough money for cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs…if you do, you probably don’t need the help..if you can spend $10/$15 for a pack of cigarettes, you’re doing ok, because not of these are necessities, and that’s what social services is supposed to be about, it you have vices you want to endulge in, get a job to pay for them.

Sara K.: It’s not something for nothing if as i said, you were once a working class citizen who is going through a tough time and just need a hand-up, not a hand-out. Same goes for SSI or SSD, people pay into programs like that, therefore, all the taxes you’ve paid, are being given back to you when you need it. I’m not a criminal or a drug-addict and I disagree with having to submit bodily fluids to programs like these. Fingerprinting is not the issue, it’s drug-testing that i disagree with. I understand the concept of checking for criminal records and preventing double-dipping. But we’re talking about punishing everyone for the few bad apples that are spoiling the bunch. The Obama Administration has been actively working on ending the war on drugs and focusing more on real issues. Drug addicts have a disease and shouldn’t be treated like the scum of the earth. If we start here, we will continue to let the government and whatever other agency dictate what we are and aren’t allowed to do. Alot of those situations mentioned are “IF” situations, like “what IF this person buys cigs” and what IF this person buys alcohol”. The bottom line is, welfare can use your bank accounts and tax records etc to see that you truly do need the help. Jobs should use your previous job experience and resume to determine whether or not you’re job-worthy. If you act like a drug-addict, you’ll lose your job, but you shouldn’t be excluded from something exclusively because you have a DISEASE. What’s next? Bar-coding tattoos on the back of our necks? I’m not a sheep and I’m not going to sit back and just let someone else tell me who and what to follow. That’s just my opinion. I respect your opinon too.

Arielle K.: Wow should have known if i posted this on my page it would go a lot differently then on lucy’s page, LOL… look i agree with everyone…i dont think they should take drug tests for jobs or welfare, my family put money into the system & FOR YEARS no one in my family was able to reap ANY of the benefits, now finally someone is NOT MENTIONING ANY NAMES, LOL, but if people have to take a drug test to work then they should have to drug test for welfare…UNTIL THE LAW TO DRUG TEST FOR JOBS IS OUT THEN drug testing for welfare should follow. honestly i also believe welfare money shouldnt be used for anything other then the true necessities such as food, housing, etc. but thats what makes this country so great right!!! NO FINGER PRINTING Sara J., DO YOU WANT TO BECOME LIKE 1984?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!

Lindsay M.: What’s funny to me is not one person is complaining about the COST of drug testing. To test everyone because there’s a few assholes is punishing this country’s defecit ridiculously. Do the math. One asshole that smokes weed only collects less than 10k a year in benefits. To find that asshole that smokes weed you’re going to propose random drug screens? Because if you’re just saying it’s for the initial getting on welfare than that’s pointless because anyone that does anything will clean their system long enough to pass a piss test and then continue to use while collecting benefits. So if you do randoms…. Let’s say 4 a year for shit’s and giggles…. At $40 a piece for the cheap version from CVS sure it’s not too much of a big deal. Until you factor in people who will piss hot, like me, for not doing anything except taking prescribed medications everyday for whatever medical issues they suffer from. Then my little cup of piss has to take a special trip to a lab so it can get twirled around in a mass spectrometer to make sure it’s the meds I’m prescribed to take and not some recreational drug I just felt like taking over the weekend. What’s the cost of that? The cost to hire the person or people who call to verify that I’m on these medications and for what purposes. So how many other people will be as costly as me? I KNOW I don’t do drugs and I don’t really care for people that do. But do I want to dig this country into a much deeper debt because someone smoked a blunt right before they picked up their WIC checks? Nope. I think there should be a random policy. If someone dropped a dime on your stupid ass or there’s proof somehow THEN you should HAVE to randomly submit to a screening and saying no takes your benefits away. Because in all honesty, if you didn’t do shit there’s nothing for you to worry about. So clear your name and be done with it. Sure, you can say how far is the government gonna go but you’re asking them for help so get over yourself. It’s the government. If they really wanted your bodily secretions they’d take it from you and pass a law saying it was ok to do so tomorrow…. Oh wait, they did that. Pick a better fight, like taxing weed and maybe we’ll get out of this deficit sometime. 😉

Sara J.: I again will point out that if you can afford to do drugs, then you don’t need to take any of my hard earned money because you’re doing fine…use the money you would have spent on drugs on food for your kids, or a gallon of milk, or something, but I bust my ass and don’t have half of what some of these leeches have, get off their asses and get to work..if you have time to smoke, you have time to get a job…it’s a lifestyle choice

Sara J.: I’m tired of having to contribute to everyone else’s well being…I haven’t been on a vacation in 2 years because they take a significant amount of my paycheck for taxes…let those who work stimulate the economy by being able to spend what we earn…those who are too lazy to do so…including those laying on thier asses smoking up…should suffer the consequences..

Kiki G.: TEST THEM ALL ! While your at it go to the projects and find out why the residents are driving bmws and lexus but getting welfare and hoiusing….. The welfare system is full scam artist who don t want to work and collect free money. They rock exspensive clothes on the backs of the working class people … Just take a walk to your local projects they all have new cars …If you need help from the goverment you should be drug free .RIGHTS none of us are free anymore….Why start fighting for some one who gets money to spend for drugs . WE have no more rights in america Your rights have been striped long time ago. so lets take back public assistance and give it to the people who truely need it DRUG FREE WELFARE WHEN IS IT COMING TO NEW YORK VOTE YES

Sara K.: This sounds like it’s a personal situation having to do with your feelings about your job and the taxes you pay. As stated earlier, it’s OUR taxes that are paying for welfare/food stamps/general assistance, not just yours. This same rule applies to those on Social Security or Disability. We continued to pay into these programs knowing that it would be a security blanket for those who were in need at some point during our lives. Did we know that eventually we would be scrutinized and treated like criminals for being poor? NO! My friends who are on welfare worked for the 20something years before needing help. So, in order to get the benefits that we are supposed to be entitled to, we have to prove ourselves by submitting our bodily fluids? In other words, a few bad apples will spoil the bunch? It has less to do with laziness and more to do with stumbling upon hard times and needing a hand-up, not a hand-out. If the government wants to stimulate the economy, how about we stop wasting money on “THE DRUG WAR” and the Iraq War, and the Afghanistan War and the Israel/Palestine War and the many other wars our country is involved in. BILLIONS OF DOLLARS are being thrown away every day on this. The US is always there to help in disaster relief for other countries and even poverty-stricken countries who need help with food/clothing/medicine. Do we go around to these people who live in huts and are starving and say, “Hey, buddy, I understand your plight but I’m gonna have to go ahead and piss test you first to make sure you’re not on drugs before you can eat.” Are drug-addicts not HUNGRY? Are they not still HUMAN BEINGS who need CLOTHING and everyday essentials such as SOAP to survive? Do they not need SHELTER? People are still people regardless of the diseases they have and the decisions they make regarding THEIR OWN lives. They don’t deserve to be punished. I, personally, don’t know anyone who is recieving welfare and just “laying on thier asses smoking up”. What a life that would be..lol

Rayn:  Drug testing all welfare recepients as a matter of policy is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, BY DEFINITION, and a FULL VIOLATION of the FOURTH AMENDMENT, which states: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Just remember: we do not live in Saudia Arabia or China! THIS IS AMERICA, where Individuals are LEGALLY PRESUMED INNOCENT until PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW!!! And, without a PROBABLE CAUSE and a COURT ORDERED WARRANT, SIGNED BY A JUDGE, ANY SEIZURE OF BIOMETRIC DATA, AKA URINE/BLOOD, classifies as a WARRANTLESS SEARCH, and is therefore a VIOLATION OF US LAW!!!

If our society wants to CRIMINALIZE WELFARE RECIPIENTS, LET’S START WITH RECIPIENTS OF CORPORATE WELFARE! Corporate welfare uses SO MUCH MORE of our tax dollars than social welfare EVER DID, so why do these HANDOUTS go UNNOTICED!? Does McDONALD’S really need “help” from our government in order to advertise in third-world countries? I THINK NOT, MY FRIENDS!

According to the Cato Institute, the U.S. federal government spent $92 billion on corporate welfare during fiscal year 2006, and this number reached well over $150 billion in 2010! Recipients included BOEING, XEROX, IBM, MOTOROLA, DOW CHEMICAL, & GENERAL ELECTRIC!!! And, this information has been STARING US IN THE FACE for YEARS and YEARS! Yet, for the most part, we REMAIN SILENT!!!!

Now, CRITICALLY THINK, and ask yourselves the IMPORTANT, SOUL-SEARCHING QUESTION: in the face of information like this, readily available for ANYONE WITH AN INTEREST IN TRUTH to discover, why do so many people fixate on CRIMINALIZING recipients of SOCIAL WELFARE to the BLARING EXCLUSION of CORPORATE WELFARE? We can’t all REALLY be okay with RICH MEGA-THIEVES ROBBING US, DAY BY DAY, while we content ourselves by bickering over which PETTY THIEF used their foodstamps for cigarettes and alcohol, can we?!?!?! Of course not!!! So, why, then? The answer is simple: because the mainstream media pushes the destruction of social welfare as a regular agenda, pretending most welfare recipients are minorities who scam the system. This is FALSE, and PURELY PROPAGANDA! I did a report on this VERY TOPIC in H.S. & discovered two things: (1) The MAJORITY OF WELFARE RECIPIENTS ARE UNDERAGE WHITE FEMALES WITH CHILDREN, & (2) the VAST MAJORITY OF WELFARE SCAMS ARE PERPETRATED BY WELFARE SOCIAL WORKERS! Anyone interested in reading it, let me know, and I will post it!!!!

Aesop was correct! “We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office.”

Sara K.: lol Kiki…what a generalization. ALL of THEM have lexuses, bmw’s, new cars…etc. With that mind-set, saying “none of us are free anymore” and we have no rights anymore so why not…you’ve become one of the sheep that has been hearded to just accept whatever is thrown your way. I, for one, will not be a sheep. This was never a fight for people to get free money when they were on drugs. This was a debate as to whether or not I want my contstitutional rights as an American to be stripped from me. The answer to that is no. Do I want to treat drug addicts like criminals. The answer to that is no. Do I want to submit my bodily fluids to welfare or a job? The answer to that is no. When the time comes that I need assistance, I want to be treated like a human being who hasn’t pre-emptively committed a crime. Almost everyone I talk to has the same debate when it comes to this: “IF ONE HAS TO BE TESTED, WHY NOT ALL!” Yeah! That’s right, let’s all submit our URINE, BLOOD, XRAYS, DENTAL RECORDS, HAIR SAMPLES, DNA, FINGERPRINTS to everyone! Jobs/Welfare/Housing Applications/Airports/Even shopping! Let’s just throw all of our rights away! LOL…by the way, Gina. The people you are seeing in the PJ’s with expensive cars and fancy clothes are probably DRUG DEALERS, not ADDICTS. I’m sure the whopping $60 welfare check is not gonna buy those things you mentioned. The illegal drug dealing business is quite profitable, I suppose. Probably because those most suseptible to fall into forming a drug habit are those that are poor, misguided, live in dangerous communities, have broken homes, are extremely ill, have experienced some type of trauma, etc. Therefore, the people in the PJ’s are thriving off of each other’s misfortune. One sells drugs (to make money to get out of the PJ’s) the addict who buys the drugs (sinks further into povery, debt, depression, illness) It’s a vicious cycle and there’s a lot more that can be done rather than crimilizing drug addicts.

Lindsay M.: Sara J., I agree that it sucks. I’m not saying it doesn’t. But is this a way to properly combat the situation without putting us even further in debt so this way they’ll take a bigger chunk out for taxes to try to fix it?! There will always be people who cheat every system. Doesn’t mean this is the only way to fix it though. I agree that something needs to be done though. Just needs to be a better plan of action. 🙂

Lindsay M.: Rayn fights the good fight.

Arielle K.: LMFAO!!!!! well in reading this ive realized one thing; although its GREAT to have freedom of speech & discussing politics, i think this a simple game of divide & conquer…kind of like when way back in the day poor whites acted as if they were & treated as if they were, better then poor blacks when they were in the same boat. it’d be great if we could find a medium, clean up the welfare system, & do it without invading anyone’s personal rights.