DRUG-TESTING SCHEME

Regarding "Jobless Benefits Drug Test Proposed," Metro, March 17:

Sen. Mike Bennett's proposal to randomly drug test unemployment
recipients is preposterous. To receive unemployment benefits you have
to have worked so many quarters, lost a job through no fault of your
own and be actively seeking unemployment. If a person is actively
seeking employment, they are subject to being drug tested anyway. Why
go through the expense?

I'm not sticking up for drug users, but I'm pretty sure 99 percent of
people currently collecting benefits, including me, are spending the
lowly sum on bills, food, gas, clothing, etc., not drugs. I don't
consider unemployment compensation to be a "government handout" and
believe there are other programs where drug testing should occur.

Maybe some of Bennett's cohorts run a drug-testing lab. What other
reason would someone have for growing government expenses in an
already down economy?

Randell Peterson, Tampa