TAKING THE WAR ON DRUGS TO ANOTHER LEVEL

RALEIGH - While drug lords may be causing violence in Mexico, there
are those in this country who'd love to bring the drug war to a fever
pitch. Lawmakers in at least eight states want to require drug testing
at various levels as a condition to receiving public assistance. In at
least two states, that public assistance includes receiving
unemployment compensation. Delegate Craig Blair, a Republican in West
Virginia, is proposing the most comprehensive drug-testing program in
the country. In addition to requiring drug testing for a number of
welfare programs, he'd also require it for people seeking unemployment
benefits.

A Florida state senator is also proposing a link between drug testing
and unemployment benefits.

I emphasize unemployment benefits because in these economic hard
times, a lot of people are going to be making trips to the
unemployment office who have never sought such assistance before.

I also mention those benefits because it's a different program than
other assistance programs.

Unemployment benefits are primarily paid for by an unemployment
insurance program. Employers pay premiums into the unemployment
assistance program based on their track record of laying off workers
who later qualify for the benefits. Other programs, such as food
stamps and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, are generally
funded by direct tax dollars. One could make the argument that in some
ways the unemployment premium is an indirect tax, but we'll save that
argument for another day. I'll also save for another day the argument
over the accuracy of many drug tests. Our nation has had a war on
drugs for decades. It's been going on, in one form or another, longer
than the war on terrorism. We treat drug addiction as a crime rather
than a health problem. We don't seem to mind shredding constitutional
rights as a means of putting drug offenders behind bars. The federal
government and most states won't even legalize the use of marijuana
for medical purposes.

Now we have politicians in a couple of states wanting to deny people
their unemployment insurance benefits because they test positive for
drug use. These are people who may have done absolutely nothing wrong
at their jobs. The economy got bad. Businesses shut down or cut back
and have to lay off their workers. When they go to sign up for their
unemployment benefits, they're given a cup and told to provide a sample.

I'm not advocating drug abuse. I've seen what the abuse of drugs and
alcohol can do to people. And I've seen how difficult it is for people
who abuse drugs and alcohol to kick their addiction.

Now I'm seeing a different kind of abuse. It's an abuse by politicians
who'd take advantage of poor economic times as a means of stepping up
their idea of a war on drugs.

I hope we can do better at stopping this legislative abuse than the
war on drugs has done in curtailing drug abuse.

Barry Smith writes for Freedom Communications, Inc.'s Raleigh bureau