>>Interesting - I'm suprised I had not thought of this before. Generally I'm against drug testing as pre-screening to get a job because too me it seems like you're assuming guilt instead of assuming inocent - which is not the "american way"....BUT in this case, where there person is on public assistance - hey I'm all for it. I can't imagine how much $ it would save the tax payers. Sure there would be the cost of the drug tests - but my gut tells me that it would be worth it.
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>I agree that it sounds like a good idea. That is, until you consider that the children of those who fail the urine test will not have any support and possibly no food, etc.... It is a case of punishing the innocent children.

If that happens then perhaps they should remove the children from the house.

>Of course, we could stipulate that anyone who fails the test still gets the benefits as long as they are in rehab... I'd rather my tax dollars go to rehab then going to support those who use drugs regardless now.

Yeah - and after they complete rehab, pass a couple of tests, then they can get their kids back along with the puslic assistance $. If they fail x number of drug tests then something else should happen.

This is all really a pretty good idea - perhaps I should draft a letter to my local congressman.