Finally!

[oaktown65804]

Well said,Jack.

I know I come off as one of those bleeding hearts....and maybe I am to an extent.

As far as meeting drug addicts, trust me, if you knew what I did for a living (which I'm not going to reveal) I run into plenty of them daily and its an issue I end up having to address with them. I agree that many addicts will use any amount of money that they have, but not all. Further, that doesn't reflect the person who may have just used something at a party or who is otherwise responsible but uses recreationally (yes, responsible people sometimes enjoy illegal drugs). Those are the ones I fear for. Any time you give the government the authority to involve themselves more and more into people's lives without a solid toolbox of solutions and grounding in the overall mission that is sought to be accomplished, you're asking for trouble. Which is what I think this is.

I agree that people who are drug addicts shouldn't be drawing benefits to the extent that their drug problem interferes with their ability to advance towards responsibility and self-sufficiency. I just think that it's a bit more complicated than it appears and this is a rather blunt tool being used where a scalpel is needed. A holistic approach is really what would be most effective. Unfortunately, that takes time and money which most of us aren't willing to spend (myself included sometimes).

People at the economic level this is geared towards don't always work jobs requiring drug tests, so that MAY be a non-issue for them before this. And if you do test positive and lose your job, yes, the taxpayers will eventually pay for your kids, especially if your wife leaves you and goes on benefits. It's just the roundabout way.

To give you an idea of how this functions in practice just look at the states that legalized marijuana for medical purposes. In those state's someone can be taking legal, doctor prescribed marijuana, and be terminated from employment for following their doctors orders, and failing a drug test. Not so black and white, is it?

Okay....I'm done on this issue, LOL. Although we may all disagree, it's nice that we can do so respectfully. Now back to fishing!!!!!!!

[Quillback]

If you take a meth addicts govt. assistance away, they will do anything they can to fuel their addiction, crime, prostitution, or even worse, they'll start cooking meth and selling it. If they do start drug testing people that apply for assistance, when they get a positive on meth, that meth user should be immediately put in a lock down rehab. Pretty harsh, but meth is incredibly addictive, they users aren't going to stop when you take their assistance away. Of course the rehab costs would be huge, and I doubt taxpayers would be willing to foot the bill. And I saw a statistic that 90% of meth users that complete rehab go back to using meth. Meth is evil stuff.