Florida Legislator Wants Random Drug Tests for the Unemployed

March 17th, 2009

Via: Raw Story:

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.”

Research Credit: ltcolonelnemo

Posted in Florida | Top Of Page

3 Responses to “Florida Legislator Wants Random Drug Tests for the Unemployed”

  1. sapphire says:

    That is because they don’t want the unemployed collecting unemployment so they make it as difficult and unpleasant as they possibly can to discourage and even deny some people unemployment. It is their way of saving money. As the economy gets worse watch them get more miserly with unemployment payments and blame the unemployed for their predicament. I predict it will be even harder in the future for the unemployed to collect unemployment.

  2. sharon says:

    The mere fact that Americans are willing to lie down for drug testing in the workplace tells you they’re okay with being treated like animals.

  3. A few years from now, the headline will read, “Unterreichsfuhrer wants random unemployment tests for the drugged”, and NOBODY WILL EVEN FUCKING NOTICE.

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