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While alcohol & nicotine would unpractical (leave the system too fast); a simpler way is exactly what you stated - by converting food stamps to WIC type restrictions. There are people selling food stamps for 50 cents on the dollar allover the country. I know we've all seen the filet mignon & jumbo shrimp example before. It's sickening..the worst is after in the parking lot when they jump into their Range Rover.
Most hard drugs leave your system just as quickly. The only one that stays for more than a few days max is marijuana.
Most hard drugs leave your system just as quickly. The only one that stays for more than a few days max is marijuana.
Marijuana can stay in your system for months. On average it stays for about 2 weeks, depending how often you smoke it and your metabolism + THC content.
A lot of opiates and other drugs stay for 1+ weeks as well.
I think it's an excellent idea. I orginally read in the NY Post that several US senators wanted to have mandatory drug testing for UI recepients. I guess the idea has trickled down to the social services. It's a wise idea for both groups of recepients. Use the money for what it was intended for not drugs.
While they're at it, let's have mandatory drug and alcohol random testing of members of Congress. Which group of people are costing us more money?
The reason no one is robbing to get money for tobacco products is because tobacco is legal. If marijuana were legal no one would be doing those things to get it either. After all, it's a plant, just like tobacco is, except that it requires less processing and it's not toxic. The behavior you're objecting to is a result of prohibition and the drug war, not the drug itself. On that basis, you should have a problem with your government, not the people who choose a different drug than you do.
By the way, the counties financial problems have more to do with unfunded government employee benefits and pensions than the 3% of welfare residents that use hard drugs. Dumping on the poor is not going to solve the county's fiancial problems.
I don't think you understand the different nature of some of these drugs and the effects they have on the mind. Meth is simply different than nicotine, no matter how much you try to claim illegal drugs are just the same as legal drugs.
A cigarette smoker without his nicotine might get edgy and be difficult to be around but he's not going to cut off your head like a meth addict to get his drugs.
Pot heads are terrible in the workplace because they come to work high and sit and stare off into space and everything is oh wow. Nicotine doesn't have the same effect, in fact cigarette smokers tend to be good workers.
I don't think you understand the different nature of some of these drugs and the effects they have on the mind. Meth is simply different than nicotine, no matter how much you try to claim illegal drugs are just the same as legal drugs.
A cigarette smoker without his nicotine might get edgy and be difficult to be around but he's not going to cut off your head like a meth addict to get his drugs.
Pot heads are terrible in the workplace because they come to work high and sit and stare off into space and everything is oh wow. Nicotine doesn't have the same effect, in fact cigarette smokers tend to be good workers.
We were talking about marijuana, alcohol and tobacco, not meth, which is a whole different class of drug. I'm not claiming illegal drugs are the same as legal drugs (for one thing you can't genealize all legal or illegal drugs because they are all different in composition and effects). I am saying that a great deal of the harm, cost, and negative effects of illegal drugs are caused by the illegality.
You are way over generalizing about "pot heads in the work place". Most marijuana users I know are responsible citizens who pay taxes, go to work every day (not high), drive (not high) and keep their yard and house in good order, just like most of their neighbors who use other substances to occassionally alter their mood. I don't think you'd be able to recognize most marijuana users any more than you could tell whether someone, who is a responsible drinker, likes to have a beer or two on the weekend. There is a difference between use and aduse.
Nicotine addicts need to constantly replenish the nicotine level in their blood, or they lose concentration, get irritable, etc. As a manager for over 30 years I've found that they tend to take more sick days than non nicotine addicts, cost more in benefits, and they take more breaks at work. I'd rather not have a nicotine addict on my staff, unfortunately the laws in my state (and at least 19 others) don't allow me to discriminate against nicotine addicts.
We were talking about marijuana, alcohol and tobacco, not meth, which is a whole different class of drug. I'm not claiming illegal drugs are the same as legal drugs (for one thing you can't genealize all legal or illegal drugs because they are all different in composition and effects). I am saying that a great deal of the harm, cost, and negative effects of illegal drugs are caused by the illegality.
You are way over generalizing about "pot heads in the work place". Most marijuana users I know are responsible citizens who pay taxes, go to work every day (not high), drive (not high) and keep their yard and house in good order, just like most of their neighbors who use other substances to occassionally alter their mood. I don't think you'd be able to recognize most marijuana users any more than you could tell whether someone, who is a responsible drinker, likes to have a beer or two on the weekend. There is a difference between use and aduse.
Nicotine addicts need to constantly replenish the nicotine level in their blood, or they lose concentration, get irritable, etc. As a manager for over 30 years I've found that they tend to take more sick days than non nicotine addicts, cost more in benefits, and they take more breaks at work. I'd rather not have a nicotine addict on my staff, unfortunately the laws in my state (and at least 19 others) don't allow me to discriminate against nicotine addicts.
You are way over generalizing about "pot heads in the work place". Most marijuana users I know are responsible citizens who pay taxes, go to work every day (not high), drive (not high) and keep their yard and house in good order, just like most of their neighbors who use other substances to occassionally alter their mood. I don't think you'd be able to recognize most marijuana users any more than you could tell whether someone, who is a responsible drinker, likes to have a beer or two on the weekend. There is a difference between use and aduse.
Nicotine addicts need to constantly replenish the nicotine level in their blood, or they lose concentration, get irritable, etc. As a manager for over 30 years I've found that they tend to take more sick days than non nicotine addicts, cost more in benefits, and they take more breaks at work. I'd rather not have a nicotine addict on my staff, unfortunately the laws in my state (and at least 19 others) don't allow me to discriminate against nicotine addicts.
It's been proven that people who smoke are more productive workers. They did studies back when they made it illegal in most offices and work places. They take shorter breaks, can focus better and work longer (as long as they had their cigs). Cigarettes cannot be compared to heavier narcotics. Cigarettes can be compared to coffee (watch out coffee drinkers, mr tax man will be coming for you next after a few media stunts showing coffee is bad for you, high blood pressure, addictive).
Even pot. All the adults I know that do it regularly are like big kids. Not to say I think it should be illegal. It should be legalized for other reasons. But it definitely makes you LAZY. I really don't think anyone that's tried it or done it regularly at a time in their lives would disagree with this. (I don't know any pot heads that own a home, the ones I know value leisure time, video games and food and either rent or still live with parents). The fact that it makes you lazy should be even more incentive to test welfare recips. Because this could be a big reason they plan on never leaving welfare.
It's been proven that people who smoke are more productive workers. They did studies back when they made it illegal in most offices and work places. They take shorter breaks, can focus better and work longer (as long as they had their cigs). Cigarettes cannot be compared to heavier narcotics. Cigarettes can be compared to coffee (watch out coffee drinkers, mr tax man will be coming for you next after a few media stunts showing coffee is bad for you, high blood pressure, addictive).
Even pot. All the adults I know that do it regularly are like big kids. Not to say I think it should be illegal. It should be legalized for other reasons. But it definitely makes you LAZY. I really don't think anyone that's tried it or done it regularly at a time in their lives would disagree with this. (I don't know any pot heads that own a home, the ones I know value leisure time, video games and food and either rent or still live with parents). The fact that it makes you lazy should be even more incentive to test welfare recips. Because this could be a big reason they plan on never leaving welfare.
Show me a citation to a study showing that smokers are more productive than non smokers. I'm sure if that were true businesses would be promoting smoking, which is not the case. Smoking Clouds Workplace Productivity - Lighting up means poorer health, poorer work, researchers say. The US Navy did a study, as did the Labor Dept, a large US temp employer, and the Swedish, that I could readily find. All said the same thing, smokers (of tobacco) are less productive and take more sick time.
Nicotine addiction has been compared to heroin addiction, not by me, but by a former Surgeon General of the United States. People who have a bad nicotine addiction can't even sit through a whole movie without leaving the theater to have a smoke. When something alters your every day behavior that much, I'd say you have a problem.
Maybe cannabis users you know seem like big kids because they're happy. I don't know. The people I know are interesting people, fully engaged in life. They all have home mortgages, car payments, busy lives (except the younger ones that are just starting out). They are not lazy, but they do know how to relax. The real world is not like the Cheech and Chong movies, and never was.
Anyone who plans on never leaving welfare has a bad plan. But now that you mention it, one commonality you will see in the poor (if we can generalize that population at all) is a lack of any kind of planning.
If you did the research, and I have, you would know that studies have shown that people on public assistance have a lower incidence of illegal drug use than the general population. NO state tests them (although the Welfare Reform Act allows it) because in the states that tried, it was not cost effective. We need to do things that are cost effective, especially in these times, so although a lot of folks on this board would like to drug test to punish the poor, our money could be better spent in other ways. At least the people running these programs know that, if the general population doesn't.
I think when someone gets any money from the government through social services, whether it be welfare, disablity or even unemployment, they should be drug tested. I work too damn hard for my tax dollars to go to some unemployed crackhead leech.
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No, I know about drug effects
