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from the unreasonable-searches-and-seizures dept.
Via Common Dreams, the American Civil Liberties Union reports
[December 3], a three-judge panel at the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a 2011 Florida law mandating that all applicants for the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program submit to suspicion-less drug tests violates the Constitution's protection against unreasonable government searches.
[...]The 11th Circuit panel's order rejects arguments made by attorneys for the State of Florida that government has the authority to require people to submit to invasive searches of their bodily fluids without suspicion of wrongdoing, stating "the warrantless, suspicionless urinalysis drug testing of every Florida TANF applicant as a mandatory requirement for receiving Temporary Cash Assistance offends the Fourth Amendment."
[...]A 2012 review of the TANF mandatory urinalysis program found that the state of Florida spent more money reimbursing individuals for drug tests than the state saved on screening out the extremely small percentage.
(Score: -1) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 04 2014, @07:11PM
I agree with this sort of law.
If you have money to buy illegal drugs then you have money to buy food. I mean exactly that.
Money is what is called fungible.
If you have 100 dollars to buy food. Then you buy food.
But if you have 100 dollars in coupons AND 100 dollars. Now you can buy both. Basically I am supporting your drug habit.
I know *many* drug addicts. Many of them are also on snap. I knew a drug dealer who cleared 3k a month selling who was on snap and he was a small fry coke dealer. These people are a minority of who uses these programs but they f-ng piss me the hell off. I could care less about their work ethic or anything like that. It chaps my ass they are basically stealing from these programs. These programs are meant to help people. Not to give you a life of leisure. These people think nothing of having 6 kids. Not because of their love of children. But because they see them as dollar signs. I see it over and over. They even think I am 'the crazy one' because I do not take advantage of the system like they do.
What most people do not realize is how wildly expensive illegal drugs are. 3k a month? Thats nothing to a pill head or someone who wants heroin.
They see it as a scam. If you think otherwise you have never dealt with people in these programs. There are basically 3 kinds. Those who actually need it (these people usually want out as quickly as they went in). Those who are using it as a supplement to their lifestyle. Those who are gaming it to 'make some cheddar'. The first two I am ok with. The third though...
To give you an idea of the scope of how taken advantage these systems are let me tell you the story of my friend. He was out on his luck finding a job (about 8 months). He had no nest egg because the ex had wasted it all on stupid purchases. So he gets married and 4 months in he is out of a job. He ends up on snap. He finds a job and wants to pay back the remainder. They had never heard of such a thing. They had no way to do it.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by hoochiecoochieman on Friday December 05 2014, @03:10PM
This is your boss. I will start demanding drug tests for you, because I don't want you spending your salary in drugs, booze or smoke. Also, I don't want you to marry a woman that will spend your money on silly things. So you will have to send any prospecting wife to me so I can approve her. I also don't want you to spend your money going to football games or rock shows, because I personally disapprove of those two kinds of entertainments. You are only allowed to spend your salary in baseball games and electropop shows.
Welcome to the Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. Where the braves who have money enjoy their freedom to dictate what the others can do with their lives.