MO Republican lawmakers want drug testing for welfare recipients

we stop giving out welfare period? If there isn't a welfare program, then there is no need for an invasion of privacy to see if you are eligible.

Now, don't get me wrong, I support the right of all people to do whatever they want to themselves as long as they aren't hurting any one else, but I think that people on welfare should be screened for drugs (ignoring pot), seeing as how they are already wasting a huge amount of our money as it is, we don't need them spending the money on hard drugs, thus driving them ever further into the need for other people's money.

However, should they fail a drug test, they shouldn't be sent to jail. They should have a single appeal followed by a 2-month waiting period before they can apply again. Rehab services could be made available.

and politicians.

I had a positive called in on me once and I KNOW I wasn't doing illegal drugs.

Fortunately, my boss at the time gave me the testing company's phone number and, suddenly, the testing company had no record of calling in a positive test. How often do you think a chance for exoneration comes up with these tests?

What they NEED to do is get tough on these senators and force THEM to take drug tests. ALL government employees should be subjected to it if they want to wage their little war on drugs.

and "public assistance". Our legislation also carries "penalties" if you fail the drug test.

Here is what I sent out to my repubs concerning our proposed legislation:

I'm totally with y'all that we shouldn't have to pay benefits to "people on drugs" okay? As a taxpayer, I'm no more thrilled than you are. Yet have you considered the cost of said drug test and the surely demanded follow-up rehab...wonder what the price tag for that will be per "offender"?

Here's my "liberty problem" with this bill: I have a right to end my life if I so choose. FLAT OUT. To deny that a person has this "right" (ability) is like trying to deny suicide exists. I have a "right" to end my life little tiny bits at a time, if I'm stupid enough. It is my God given right to "freewill" to choose to do bad or good by myself and my neighbor. Whether you like it or not, you cannot legislate morality or what people put into their own bodies. You may think you can control others but anyone that's ever watched the chocolate cake knows the last piece will surreptitiously disappear despite repeated warnings from Mom that it's set aside for Dad.

What I put into my body is none of your business. Should what I put into my body, therefore "cause" me to commit a crime, there are plenty of statutes to handle my actual crime. It is not criminal to "be on drugs/drunk" unless you commit a crime while under influence such as with something as "small" as trespass/public intox. To assume everyone/anyone is "on drugs" is called "pre-emptive crime" and in this country we are considered innocent until proven guilty BY DUE PROCESS OF LAW, UPON A CRIME HAVING BEEN COMMITTED. --- NOT BEFORE A CRIME IS COMMITTED.

Are you guys seriously going to sit there and tell me that MOST people are NOT on drugs? What kind of drugs you ask? ALL KINDS. And you know it's true: Pharma AND Illegal. Who draws the line? Who has the measuring stick to determine if "your drug of choice" (legal or not) will lead to rejection of benefits AND the incurring of PENALTIES??

What's a drug? Alcohol? Cannabis? Nicotine? Hormones? Steroids? Anti-depressants? Maybe I think you take too much Viagra? What about the FDA trying to make Cheerios classify as a "drug"? Do you really want someone to be able to stalk your "input" levels of any item?

Come on people, quit laying down for everything to "keep you safe". Does it not even bother you that you are handing over your urine to your employer or government? So after all these 30 something years since drug testing started, did you never feel OFFENDED by this invasion? Do you not care that it is essentially coerced consent? How about how after 5 years or so, the drug-testing industry recognized that people could "cheat" their own drug tests so "observers" therefore needed to watch you urinate? --- WHEN IN ANY OTHER CIRCUMSTANCE THIS WOULD BE CONSIDERED "INDECENT EXPOSURE" (at the very least in South Carolina)? Where is your dignity?

I also do not agree with employment drug screenings unless the job "demands it"...i.e., you're flying a plane or taking out someone's gallbladder....or how about running the government?

What you guys keep forgetting is that once you agree to this for "the other guy", it will be visited on you in many ways you've never dreamed of. I bet that drug testing will go straight to your "electronic medical records"....what if you throw a false-positive?? (There is a lot of info on line about false positives and it's not just poppy seeds, people.) Do you want a "bad drug test" following you around forever like a horrid credit score? Undoing a bad drug test is about as easy as getting off the no-fly list and you'd better not have an alcohol/drug slur on your medical record or YOU WILL GET DISCRIMINATED AGAINST FOR PAIN RELIEF -- this happens NOW...before the horrid healthcare crap that will obviously insinuate itself more into your "health maintenance".

I do not know what to do about "all the people on drugs" who need/want unemployment benefits or public assistance but what you are talking about here is the use of "force" and in a free-society, there should be no such thing as "force", the Constitution strictly prohibits the use of force, fraud and violence....FOR THESE ARE THE ONLY REAL (True Heart of All) CRIMES!!

*My SC repubs do not like me at all.*