If Craig Blair gets his way, anyone filing for unemployment or food stamps must show that they are drug-free. He’s a state lawmaker in West Virginia who has introduced a bill to require random drug testing for benefits.
Craig Blair says unemployment, designed to get people back to work, is impossible if the recipient uses drugs.
“The message that we’re trying to send is, first of all, we need to respect taxpayers and how their monies are spent,” the Republican said. “And drug addiction is in epidemic proportions, and not only in West Virginia but throughout the United States.”
His bill would require random drug testing for any government assistance: welfare, jobless benefits or food stamps.
Someone who failed the drug test would get the benefits and 60 days to clean up. If he failed the next test, he would lose benefits for two years…
Graham Boyd, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Drug Law Reform Project, calls it “typical political theater…If anything, [you'd think] people would be more compassionate now that people have lost jobs,” Boyd said.
Random lie detector tests for elected officials, members of Congress?
