Originally Posted by
bandaidwoman
Most physicians are against the welfare drug testing due to scientific reasons. According to a 1996 study by the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, differences between the proportion of welfare and non-welfare recipients using illegal drugs are statistically insignificant.
Before the Michigan policy was halted, only 10% of recipients tested positive for illicit drugs. Only 3% tested positive for hard drugs, such as cocaine and amphetamines – rates that are in line with the drug use rates of the general population.
Seventy percent of all illicit drug users (and presumably a much higher percentage of alcohol users), ages 18-49, are employed full-time.
Regarding the latter, I don't drug test my employees, if they can do their work, fine, if they can't, I fire them. If I have a pot head that can do her job very well, who cares. Plain and simple.
I'm a dual citizen of China and USA ( long story). Once the government can violate what is the 4th amendment with "illegal searches" using drug testing, it opens the door for other searches. I know, because this is what they do back home. We chinese understand that drug abuse will always be rampant in a free market system. Mao , successfully eradicated my home country's addiction to Opium (3/4 of us were addicted) with ruthless drug testing, home searches and totalitarian efficiency. Now that free market capitalism is making it's way throughout after Deng's "Reaganization" of our economy, drug addiction is making a comeback. It is the price of a relatively free market economy.