DRUG-TEST LAW UNFAIRLY TARGETS THE NEEDY

Without doubt, it is the popular thing to do. Save the taxpayer money.
Keep someone who is using illegal drugs off the public dole. Prevent
the government from subsidizing the drug habits of people on welfare.

To that end, Gov. Rick Scott has signed legislation that will require
all those applying for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or
TANF, to undergo drug testing, and to pay upfront for the test. If the
applicant passes, he or she will be reimbursed for the cost of the
test and, assuming all paperwork is in order, begin to receive
benefits. A failure -- that is, evidence of illegal drug use -- will
preclude the applicant both from a reimbursement for the test cost and
from receiving benefits.

At first blush, the plan sounds reasonable, but on closer inspection
there are problems.

First, there is the U.S. Constitution, which precludes the government
from conducting random searches and seizures. It is not the same as
when a private business adopts a policy of drug testing job
applicants. Applying for a job is strictly voluntary. People can
choose not to apply to companies that conduct drug tests.

It is true that no one is obligated to apply for TANF support, but
most who do have few alternatives. For a wide variety of reasons,
people find themselves in need of help to feed, house and clothe their
families. They lack job skills, education, family support. They are
the progeny of a welfare culture that has known poverty for
generations. And yes, some have resorted to using illegal drugs as an
escape from the realities of their desperate world.

In signing the drug-testing legislation, Scott said that it is,
"unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction," and that
the new law would offer an incentive not to use drugs. If his goal is
to save money -- and if U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
statistics, showing 9.6 percent of individuals in households receiving
public assistance use illegal drugs, hold true -- the state will be
paying to test more than 90 percent of those who apply for help.
Incidentally, DHH reports that the percentage of illegal drug users in
homes that do not receive public assistance is only marginally less,
at 6.8 percent.

There is no money provided through this legislation to offer any type
of counseling for drug users. To the contrary, only an all-out effort
on the part of mental health agencies statewide prevented the
Legislature from implementing crippling cuts to community mental
health services and adult substance abuse programs. For many of those
addicted to drugs, it will take more than the threatened loss of TANF
payments to release them from the grip of this dependency.

In this day of mean politics, when those who are hurting most become
an easy target for others who fear that a stagnant economy will erode
their standard of living and their plans for retirement, the call goes
out to cut the lifeline: Don't assist anyone who is chronically
unemployed, anyone who can't claw their way out of poverty, anyone who
has made poor choices in life and finds himself or herself in the
downward spiral that is substance abuse.

Americans, individually, are a caring people. They give more money to
charity than any other nation. They volunteer their time for worthy
causes, working in food pantries, serving in times of disaster,
building homes, staffing libraries, tutoring children. The list goes
on and on.

So why has it become so popular for politicians to decry assistance
for the needy?

Indeed, there is room for reform. More attention should be paid to
giving children and their parents the help they need to develop young
brains for the important work that lies ahead. More attention should
be paid to providing basic health care, including mental health
counseling and support. Better housing options must be available if
families are to bring up children in a healthy atmosphere.

And yes, more attention must be focused on ridding poor neighborhoods
of the scourge of illegal drug activity.

The government cannot do it all, but it must stand ready to support
agencies providing vital services, encourage community-based programs
that are making a difference and provide a safety net when people fall
through the cracks.

It does not help to perpetuate stereotypes of welfare moms using
illegal drugs while their children are neglected and abused. That
happens, but far less often than those who support Florida's new
drug-testing law would make it appear. And it happens in homes that do
not receive public assistance.

America is at its best when all people have a chance to live a
reasonable life, free from the grasp of poverty and disease. That
should be the goal of government and the people who seek elected office.