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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: 4, Insightful) by melikamp on Thursday December 04 2014, @09:27PM
What is this "your experience" and why does it matter? US middle class is high as kite on prescription painkillers, with higher incomes showing just as much, if not more use:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmaris/2012/07/24/1-in-3-american-adults-take-prescription-drugs/2/
Really? Recreational drugs is what keeps poor people poor? Why use statistics or even common sense when we can simply repeat the myths? How come painkiller and alcohol abuse doesn't make rich people poor? Could racism, awful schools, awful healthcare, brainwashing propaganda, weak safety net, and disenfranchisement of the poor be more likely causes?
(Score: 2) by strattitarius on Thursday December 04 2014, @09:49PM
The only thing I think you have an issue with is probably that pot is thrown in with the more addictive and damaging drugs.
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(Score: 2) by Arik on Friday December 05 2014, @12:19AM
Yeah, lots of rich people use drugs. And some of them get really messed up to a degree that having a lot of money cant help with.
But most of them dont reach that point. They can afford the habit. And if they need to see a doctor or a counselor about it, they can afford that too.
A poor man with the same habit is much more at risk. Simply paying for the habit itself may be a huge burden. It may be impossible on paper, and drive him to crime, which leads to ruinous court costs and fees even if he avoids jail time. Doctors and counselors that might help him kick it are much harder for him to access.
The "drug' doesnt need to be psychoactive - this is something that commonly happens with cigarettes. The wealthier you are, the less likely you are to smoke - the less of a burden the cost is if you do - and the easier you have it if you want to quit. For a rich man cigarettes are unlikely to be a big problem.
But for the very poor? I have seen so many people in those straits, unemployed or underemployed, drawing food stamps, and spending many of their waking hours pursuing their #1 perceived need. Not food, not shelter, not employment - no, cigarettes.
I've seen it all my life and the more I see it the less I believe the common dismissal of it as a personal problem and the more I see it as part of the overall poverty trap. And it is a trap. The less money you have the more money you need, in so many ways. A rich man with good credit can have the power turned on to a warehouse with little more than a word. A poor man that's had trouble paying a bill here and there in the past? He has to come up with a big deposit to get the power on in a cottage. Think about it.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?