Sorry folks!
When will we insist on DRUG TESTING elected officials?
Showing posts with label drug testing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drug testing. Show all posts
Thursday, October 8, 2015
Another War Against Welfare Recipient Failure! BRAVO!
Sorry folks!
When will we insist on DRUG TESTING elected officials?
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Welfare Drug Testing Catched !2 Users in Utah, Costs $31,000
Welfare Drug Testing Catches Only 12 Users In Utah
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Just as We Suspected: Florida Saved Nothing by Drug Testing Welfare Applicants
Republican tyranny targeted welfare recipients in Florida with drug testing.
Although this is outdated, it serves as a reminder of Republican Extremist tactics that are not only untrue, but waste taxpayer $$$....
Who is the Welfare Cheat?
Talk about conflict of interest. It also should be illegal for the Governor to do this.
Janet Madden Redmond McCourt via Sharon Hastings
Now this one is funny. The drug testing "scheme" cost the taxpayers of Florida millions and the money went to the Governor's bank account as the company doing the testing was run by his wife after he transferred control to her...(Mike Price)
Although this is outdated, it serves as a reminder of Republican Extremist tactics that are not only untrue, but waste taxpayer $$$....
Who is the Welfare Cheat?
Talk about conflict of interest. It also should be illegal for the Governor to do this.
Janet Madden Redmond McCourt via Sharon Hastings
Now this one is funny. The drug testing "scheme" cost the taxpayers of Florida millions and the money went to the Governor's bank account as the company doing the testing was run by his wife after he transferred control to her...(Mike Price)
Just as We Suspected: Florida Saved Nothing by Drug Testing Welfare Applicants
Last year Florida became the first state to pass and fully implement a bill mandating suspicionless drug testing of all applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The law mandated that all applicants pay for the cost of the drug test themselves, and that they be reimbursed if their test came back negative. The law was in effect for a mere four months before the ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit and a federal court blocked the law, saying it was unconstitutional.
Today the New York Times released the most comprehensive data yet on how the law fared during the short period of time it was in effect. We already knew that the law was a failure; what we didn't know was just how much of a failure it was.
In the four months that Florida's law was in place, the state drug tested 4,086 TANF applicants. A mere 108 individuals tested positive. To put it another way, only 2.6 percent of applicants tested positive for illegal drugs — a rate more than three times lower than the 8.13 percent of all Floridians, age 12 and up, estimated by the federal government to use illegaldrugs. Now might be a good time to remind folks that in the debate over the bill, Gov. Rick Scott argued that this law was necessary because, he said, welfare recipients used drugs at a higher rate than the general population.
The utter absurdity of this law is magnified when you realize how much it cost the state of Florida to run this program. The data released today shows that Florida spent $118,140 reimbursing the overwhelming number of Florida TANF applicants — 3,938 to be exact — who tested negative for drugs. That is far more than any money saved by the program, at a net cost to the State of over $45,000. And that's only part of the cost to the state to run this program. There are also the administrative costs, staff costs, and, of course, the litigation costs. Furthermore, the testing program didn't deter individuals from applying for help — an internal document about TANF caseloads revealed that, at least from July through September, the policy did not lead to fewer cases.
Despite the complete failure of this program to unearth anything other than the fact that there is no overwhelming drug problem amongst welfare applicants, the state of Florida continues to defend this law. And unfortunately, other states have followed Florida's ill-informed lead. Over 25 states introduced welfare drug testing legislation this year. You'd think that the court rulings and high costs might have logically stopped these bills, but they have not. In fact, just this Monday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill into law that is very similar to Florida's, mandating all TANF applicants in Georgia be drug tested before being eligible to receive benefits.
As long as states keep fighting to pass and keep these unconstitutional and costly programs in place, the ACLU will be there to keep fighting back.
(Originally posted on Huffington Post.)
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post stated that TANF recipients were reimbursed for the cost of the drug test if the result was positive. That was incorrect. They are reimbursed if the result is negative. Thanks to @smirish for pointing this out on Twitter!
http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-racial-justice/just-we-suspected-florida-saved-nothing-drug-testing-welfare
Today the New York Times released the most comprehensive data yet on how the law fared during the short period of time it was in effect. We already knew that the law was a failure; what we didn't know was just how much of a failure it was.
In the four months that Florida's law was in place, the state drug tested 4,086 TANF applicants. A mere 108 individuals tested positive. To put it another way, only 2.6 percent of applicants tested positive for illegal drugs — a rate more than three times lower than the 8.13 percent of all Floridians, age 12 and up, estimated by the federal government to use illegaldrugs. Now might be a good time to remind folks that in the debate over the bill, Gov. Rick Scott argued that this law was necessary because, he said, welfare recipients used drugs at a higher rate than the general population.
The utter absurdity of this law is magnified when you realize how much it cost the state of Florida to run this program. The data released today shows that Florida spent $118,140 reimbursing the overwhelming number of Florida TANF applicants — 3,938 to be exact — who tested negative for drugs. That is far more than any money saved by the program, at a net cost to the State of over $45,000. And that's only part of the cost to the state to run this program. There are also the administrative costs, staff costs, and, of course, the litigation costs. Furthermore, the testing program didn't deter individuals from applying for help — an internal document about TANF caseloads revealed that, at least from July through September, the policy did not lead to fewer cases.
Despite the complete failure of this program to unearth anything other than the fact that there is no overwhelming drug problem amongst welfare applicants, the state of Florida continues to defend this law. And unfortunately, other states have followed Florida's ill-informed lead. Over 25 states introduced welfare drug testing legislation this year. You'd think that the court rulings and high costs might have logically stopped these bills, but they have not. In fact, just this Monday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill into law that is very similar to Florida's, mandating all TANF applicants in Georgia be drug tested before being eligible to receive benefits.
Get Involved
Oppose mandatory drug testing for public assistance
(Originally posted on Huffington Post.)
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post stated that TANF recipients were reimbursed for the cost of the drug test if the result was positive. That was incorrect. They are reimbursed if the result is negative. Thanks to @smirish for pointing this out on Twitter!
http://www.aclu.org/blog/criminal-law-reform-racial-justice/just-we-suspected-florida-saved-nothing-drug-testing-welfare
Sunday, June 16, 2013
![Image by @[109309865899199:274:Living Blue in a Red State]
Posted at @[265719336797086:274:Too Informed To Vote Republican]
mmc](https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1013370_538314149537602_657996392_n.jpg)
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Damn those Welfare Cheats!
When the Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy Moochers took effect, they convinced you that the deficits and economic upheaval THEY caused was the Welfare Cheats.
Wrong again!
The Pragmatic Progressive Page's photo.
Wrong again!
The Pragmatic Progressive Page's photo.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Norfolk District Attorney Michael W. Morrissey confused?
The Boston Globe presented information this morning about the personal communication between the discredited chemist, Annie Dookhan and a Norfolk County prosecutor.
The resignation of the prosecutor was announced this evening.
These comments lead one to wonder if Mr. Morrissey was unaware of the relationship or if he was and failed to act --
[Norfolk District Attorney Michael W.] Morrissey admitted that he has seen only a few e-mails, and he has refused repeated efforts by investigators to provide him with copies of the rest of the correspondence, because they are “the subject of an ongoing investigation” by Coakley and “I don’t want to interfere.”
Several state officials and prosecutors expressed confusion over Morrissey’s refusal to accept the e-mails, noting that he should know if one of his subordinates had an inappropriate relationship that could jeopardize cases in his office.
Morrissey also declined to give the Globe the handful of Dookhan-Papachristos e-mails in his possession on the grounds that the case is under investigation.
As Senator, Mr. Morrissey offered his stellar advice of Indian Gaming Regulations HERE.
From: Chemist often called, wrote to prosecutor
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2012/10/16/state-police-investigate-unusual-personal-mails-between-prosecutor-and-chemist-annie-dookhan/tQqFFlDGO50toQ0UyM0ECO/story.html
Norfolk County prosecutor resigns over contact with state lab tech
Annie Dookhan, 34, of Franklin, Mass., stands near a court officer during her arraignment Friday, Sept. 28, 2012, in Boston Municipal Court on two counts of obstruction of justice and pretending to hold a degree for a college or university. Dookhan's alleged mishandling of drug samples prompted the shutdown of a state drug lab in Boston in August and resulted in the resignation of three officials, including the state's public health commissioner. (AP Photo/Boston Herald, Patrick Whittemore, Pool)
Read more: http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x2143896292/Report-Chemist-had-contact-with-Norfolk-County-prosecutor#ixzz29c89ztY6
Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney George Papachristos has resigned over unauthorized correspondence with the technician at the center of a scandal at the state drug testing lab.
The decision, announced Wedbnesday by District Attorney Michael Morrissey, came after discussions between Papachristos and his supervisors about reports that he had an unauthorized correspondence with Annie Dookhan, the technician at the center of a scandal at the state drug testing lab.
Papachristos told supervisors that he does not want to further distract from the central issue of the criminal conduct that has been alleged and the complete breakdown of supervision that allowed it to continue.
The Boston Globe reported Wednesday that the sometimes personal phone calls and emails violated protocol and may give defense attorneys grounds to argue additional cases were compromised and should be thrown out.
The Globe reports investigators have concluded Dookhan wasn’t romantically involved with Norfolk Assistant District Attorney George Papachristos, a Weymouth native. But her husband was concerned enough to try to contact Papachristos.
The American Civil Liberties Union has asked Attorney General Martha Coakley and district attorneys to throw out cases where a prosecutor directly communicated with Dookhan.
Dookhan’s attorney did not comment.
Dookhan is accused of falsifying lab results, and officials say she may have compromised 34,000 cases.
READ MORE about the scandal.
Read more: http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x2143896292/Report-Chemist-had-contact-with-Norfolk-County-prosecutor#ixzz29c7st1mX
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Just as We Suspected: Florida Saved Nothing by Drug Testing Welfare
And so my Republican friends, instead of pursuing a losing cause, how about tackling CORPORATE WELFARE?
Just as We Suspected: Florida Saved Nothing by Drug Testing Welfare
Applicants
Last year Florida became the first state to pass and fully implement a bill mandating
suspicionless drug testing of all applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The law mandated that all applicants pay for the cost of the drug test themselves, and that they be reimbursed if their test came back negative. The law was in effect for a mere four months before the ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit and a federal court blocked the law, saying it was unconstitutional.
Today the New York Times released the most comprehensive data yet on how the law
fared during the short period of time it was in effect. We already knew that the law was a failure; what we didn't know was just how much of a failure it was.
In the four months that Florida's law was in place, the state drug tested 4,086 TANF applicants.
A mere 108 individuals tested positive. To put it another way, only 2.6 percent of applicants tested positive for illegal drugs — a rate more than three times lower than the 8.13 percent of all Floridians, age 12 and up, estimated by the federal government to use illegaldrugs. Now might be a good time to remind folks that in the debate over the bill, Gov. Rick Scott argued that this law was necessary because, he said, welfare recipients used drugs at a higher rate than the general population.
The utter absurdity of this law is magnified when you realize how much it cost the state of Florida to run this program. The data released today shows that Florida spent $118,140 reimbursing the overwhelming number of Florida TANF applicants — 3,938 to be exact — who tested negative for drugs. That is far more than any money saved by the program, at a net cost to the State of over $45,000.
And that's only part of the cost to the state to run this program. There are also the administrative costs, staff costs, and, of course, the litigation costs. Furthermore, the testing program didn't deter individuals from applying for help — an internal document about TANF caseloads revealed that, at least from July through September, the policy did not lead to fewer cases.
Despite the complete failure of this program to unearth anything other than the fact that there is no overwhelming drug problem amongst welfare applicants, the state of Florida continues to defend this law. And unfortunately, other states have followed Florida's ill-informed lead. Over
25 states introduced welfare drug testing legislation this year. You'd think that the court rulings and high costs might have logically stopped these bills, but they have not. In fact, just this Monday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill into law that is very similar to Florida's,
mandating all TANF applicants in Georgia be drug tested before being eligible to receive benefits.
As long as states keep fighting to pass and keep these unconstitutional and costly programs in place, the ACLU will be there to keep fighting back.
(Originally posted on Huffington Post.)
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post stated that TANF
recipients were reimbursed for the cost of the drug test if the result was
positive. That was incorrect. They are reimbursed if the result is negative.
Learn more about drug testing: Sign up for breaking news alerts
Just as We Suspected: Florida Saved Nothing by Drug Testing Welfare
Applicants
Last year Florida became the first state to pass and fully implement a bill mandating
suspicionless drug testing of all applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The law mandated that all applicants pay for the cost of the drug test themselves, and that they be reimbursed if their test came back negative. The law was in effect for a mere four months before the ACLU of Florida filed a lawsuit and a federal court blocked the law, saying it was unconstitutional.
Today the New York Times released the most comprehensive data yet on how the law
fared during the short period of time it was in effect. We already knew that the law was a failure; what we didn't know was just how much of a failure it was.
In the four months that Florida's law was in place, the state drug tested 4,086 TANF applicants.
A mere 108 individuals tested positive. To put it another way, only 2.6 percent of applicants tested positive for illegal drugs — a rate more than three times lower than the 8.13 percent of all Floridians, age 12 and up, estimated by the federal government to use illegaldrugs. Now might be a good time to remind folks that in the debate over the bill, Gov. Rick Scott argued that this law was necessary because, he said, welfare recipients used drugs at a higher rate than the general population.
The utter absurdity of this law is magnified when you realize how much it cost the state of Florida to run this program. The data released today shows that Florida spent $118,140 reimbursing the overwhelming number of Florida TANF applicants — 3,938 to be exact — who tested negative for drugs. That is far more than any money saved by the program, at a net cost to the State of over $45,000.
And that's only part of the cost to the state to run this program. There are also the administrative costs, staff costs, and, of course, the litigation costs. Furthermore, the testing program didn't deter individuals from applying for help — an internal document about TANF caseloads revealed that, at least from July through September, the policy did not lead to fewer cases.
Despite the complete failure of this program to unearth anything other than the fact that there is no overwhelming drug problem amongst welfare applicants, the state of Florida continues to defend this law. And unfortunately, other states have followed Florida's ill-informed lead. Over
25 states introduced welfare drug testing legislation this year. You'd think that the court rulings and high costs might have logically stopped these bills, but they have not. In fact, just this Monday, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal signed a bill into law that is very similar to Florida's,
mandating all TANF applicants in Georgia be drug tested before being eligible to receive benefits.
As long as states keep fighting to pass and keep these unconstitutional and costly programs in place, the ACLU will be there to keep fighting back.
(Originally posted on Huffington Post.)
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post stated that TANF
recipients were reimbursed for the cost of the drug test if the result was
positive. That was incorrect. They are reimbursed if the result is negative.
Learn more about drug testing: Sign up for breaking news alerts
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Posted: 08/27/2013
From August 2012 through July 2013, the state prescreened 4,730 applicants to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program with a written test.
How is a WRITTEN TEST even legal?
The state followed up with an actual drug test for the 466 of those whose written answers suggested a likelihood of drug use.
The 466 tests turned out 12 positive results, as the Associated Press first reported. The results were similar when Florida launched welfare drug testing in 2011 and just 2.6 percent of applicants tested positive. National surveys usually find that about 8 percent of respondents used drugs in the previous month.
Utah's drug screening cost the state about $31,000. But state Rep. Brad Wilson (R-Kaysville) told HuffPost he thinks the bill saved more than it cost. He said an additional 247 Utahns dropped out of the TANF application process after they were told to expect a drug test.
REPUBLICANS ARE INCAPABLE OF SEPARATING FACTS FROM MYTH!
There is no objective evidence to suggest ANY reason.
"We had 247 who once we told them, 'our test shows that you are likely using controlled substances, we need you to take a drug test,' they refused to move forward with the process," said Wilson, who sponsored the new law. "The Department of Workforce Services here in Utah estimates the benefits of those folks would have received would have been approximately $369,000 of, basically, benefits we didn't pay to people who were most likely using controlled substances. We spent $31,000 on this program over the last year but we think we've saved at least $370,000, if not more." A GUESS TO JUSTIFY STUPIDITY!
HuffPost asked the state Department of Workforce Services how many people typically failed to complete the application process in previous years but has not yet received the information.
Utah's law differs from Florida's in that it first subjects TANF applicants to a questionnaire and only tests those whose answers give the state a reasonable suspicion of drug use. The reasonable suspicion standard makes the law less vulnerable to a civil liberties lawsuit alleging the tests violate the Constitution's protections against unreasonable search. Florida's law called for blanket testing and was halted by federal courts after only a few months.
"They're all in treatment programs," he said.
As of April at least 29 states had seen proposals to drug test people seeking government benefits, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Earlier this month North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) vetoed a drug testing bill that passed the Legislature along with a slew of other conservative bills.
"This is not a smart way to combat drug abuse," McCrory said at the time. "Similar efforts in other states have proved to be expensive for taxpayers and did little to actually help fight drug addiction. It makes no sense to repeat those mistakes in North Carolina."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/27/welfare-drug-testing_n_3822750.html?ncid=txtlnkushpmg00000037