This article took me a while to do a write up for because every time I would start I would get so angry that I would just close the browser. It's really a news story that is so bad, but yet those who don't understand the problem and just see it on the surface ignorantly support it. but hey, fuck the poor cause if you're on welfare in Florida then you should get a drug test
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.- Mandatory drug testing for welfare recipients soon will be the law in Florida.
The measure passed the state Senate 26-11 Thursday, The Miami Herald reported, following 78-38 approval by the House in April. Gov. Rick Scott has made it a priority.
"It's fair to taxpayers," the governor said after the vote. "They're paying the bill. And they're often drug screened for their jobs. On top of that, it's good for families. It creates another reason why people will think again before using drugs."
Scott earlier issued an executive order requiring random drug testing of state employees.
The bill makes all adult recipients of federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits pay for the tests, which usually cost about $35, but those who pass will be reimbursed.
Recipients who test positive for any illicit substances -- after disclosing all prescriptions they take -- will lose benefits for a year. A second failed test will cost them benefits for three years. Parents will have to designate another adult to collect benefits for their children.
The measure provides no funds for drug treatment.
Since this article, the law finally passed and is on the books now. I saw this first on Facebook some time with the usual "Hell yeah!" and "Good, not my tax dollars!" sort of approval that accompanies any such legislation.
But to me, the closing statement of the article says it all. Drug abuse/addiction is a sickness that requires treatment, not some frivolous hobby undertaken by people so bored and with too much time on their hands that they can fit it in perfectly with their easy living on welfare lifestyle.
This law is one of those laws that sounds fine to many casual voters, because they lack the ability to understand the real problem. You know, the problem that is drug addiction in itself.
What bugs me about all this is also that they're not testing for nicotine or caffeine. Those are considered the "good" drugs. Neither are they looking for alcohol in your system. So you can be a raging alcoholic and still get money to drink with. It's perfectly fine to burn your kids with cigarettes during a three day drunken bender, but weed in the system? Fuck you, your kids are starving.
Why is it that we don't drug test the bankers taking bailouts and corporate welfare? I mean, if a poor person is taking some drugs because their life on the bottom rung of society is so shitty they need stimulants to get through the day, it's only costing me a few cents. But if a banker gets a bailout then that's costing me a shit ton more.
I guess it's because it's not welfare, it's considered stimulus. Man, don't I know anything? We all know, or at least we should suspect that a shitload of those bankers are doing coke and probably weed as well. This is such an obvious "fuck the poor" move that I am kind of a little shocked. I really shouldn't be, but then here we are.
Mandatory drug testing is almost exclusively applied to people who are at or near the bottom of the societal ladder. It's incredibly one sided and seems to be transparently a fuck the poor thing. Why don't we make receiving tax rebates and credits determinant on passing a drug test? Mandatory drug tests for drivers caught in moving violations? Stuff like that. You only ever see this stuff come up with the poor and corporate underlings. The only exception I can think of is athletes.
This is really just demeaning and humiliating to all around.
And the cherry on top of this FUCK YOU Sundae is that the bill makes all adult recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits pay for the tests, which usually cost about $35, but those who pass will be reimbursed for their test payment.
So it's not enough to take benefits away from the people who probably need them the most, but we've gotta get that $35 bucks back as well for conducting the testing. Bam!
Where the fuck do you people think someone who needs a government-sponsored debit card to pay for life's essentials are going to get $35 to loan to the government to pay for their drug test exactly? Perhaps it's a situation where support for this kind of thing is found chiefly among people who honestly don't believe that it's possible to have less than $35 cash for an extended period.
I also have to wonder how the hell do people see Universal Healthcare as socialist and this being a fine as dandy piece of legislation? I guess it does boil down to saying "Fuck the poor". These people believe welfare is a bad thing, and they think that this law will force people off of welfare, and it will, but not to get a job to pay for that habit.
Ironically enough, it's that drug money and the culture around it turned Miami from a placid vacation get-away for old people into a globally relevant metropolitan. And now they're trying to flush out the drugs?
You really have to give it to them on this one, it's an excellent long term plan: Poor people use drugs, take away money for using drugs. Addicts will then commit crimes to get money for drugs, we arrest them for the crimes and pretty soon we won't have any more poor people. I see no downsides at all.
Well, except for maybe all the crime that will spawn in very low income areas. But how can we put them in jail if they aren't committing crimes yet?
I would be okay with this if they used the drug test to help steer people to substance abuse centers or something, as long as they didn't pull the rug out from under them at the same time. Or maybe just skip a step and offer drug rehab to people from the get go.
This bill neatly fits together peoples' misunderstandings of the welfare system together with their misunderstandings of drugs in general. I wish I was ignorant of reality and able to just blindly support things based on my gut because then I would love this law.
Over all, this just sounds like an obvious ploy to cut welfare benefits in the guise of some moral fiber.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment