DRUG-TESTING FOR MEDICAID PATIENTS COULD ELIMINATE ADDICTS

Hooray for the views expressed by James Duncan("Drug abusers are straining
Medicaid," Feb. 20). I, too, am employed in the health care field and am
appalled at the numbers of Medicaid-covered clients we admit to the
hospital who are suffering from conditions directly related to their
addiction to illegal drugs or to alcohol.

Drug/alcohol addiction should not be a Medicaid-covered disability. I
resent the fact that the disabled children and elderly in our society are
at risk of losing their assistance because so many of our Medicaid dollars
are being spent on "drug addicts."

If someone has an addiction problem, by all means, let's help with re-hab
treatment. After treatment, however, we should expect that person to become
a productive member of society instead of a drain on the resources of our
state.

These people choose to start using the drugs/alcohol and they choose to
continue using. They show up at the emergency room with a "drug-induced
mood disorder" (depression due to coming off drugs) and will have to be
admitted to the hospital (for safety reasons). We, the taxpayers, we will
be the ones who pay for the hospitalization.

In Mississippi, most people work hard to improve their situation. Only a
few choose to become leeches on society. As long as we allow people to take
advantage of the programs used to care for our state's needy, they will do so.

Perhaps we need to have drug testing initially and randomly as criteria for
Medicaid coverage.

Mr. Duncan's idea of making these addicts responsible for their own actions
by withdrawing all benefits for life after a second "positive" drug testing
sounds viable to me!

Carolyn McCrary, Brandon