Since Florida began testing welfare applicants 96% have proven to be drug free

[Emit]

Welfare drug-testing yields 2% positive results

TALLAHASSEE --
Since the state began testing welfare applicants for drugs in July, about 2 percent have tested positive, preliminary data shows.

Ninety-six percent proved to be drug free -- leaving the state on the hook to reimburse the cost of their tests.

The initiative may save the state a few dollars anyway, bearing out one of Gov. Rick Scott's arguments for implementing it. But the low test fail-rate undercuts another of his arguments: that people on welfare are more likely to use drugs.

At Scott's urging, the Legislature implemented the new requirement earlier this year that applicants for temporary cash assistance pass a drug test before collecting any benefits. The law, which took effect July 1, requires applicants to pay for their own drug tests. Those who test drug-free are reimbursed by the state, and those who fail cannot receive benefits for a year.


~snip~

More than once, Scott has said publicly that people on welfare use drugs at a higher rate than the general population. The 2 percent test fail rate seen by DCF, however, does not bear that out.

~snip~

http://www2.tbo.com/news/politics/2011/aug/24/3/welfare-drug-testing-yields-2-percent-positive-res-ar-252458/

[spanone]

1. a waste of time, money and dignity

[TheDebbieDee]

6. Not a waste of money for Scott. He reportedly owns a big chunk

of the company that sells the drug testing kits that the testeesmust use!

[Emit]

8. Really? I had not heard that.

hmmm

[glowing]

12. Yeah, its now in his wife's name.. So, I'd say he's making bank.

He may not be picking up his paycheck, but he is taking the cheap as dirt insurance bennies and paying himself a racket on legislating perks into his private accts. Once a crook, always a crook.

[Emit]

13. wow

tx for the info

You just can't make this shit up

and that's not the first time i've said that tonight!

[Blue_Tires]

30. Funny how quickly the corporate media, courts and GOP completely

erased the term "Conflict of Interest" from our collective minds...It's like the term never existed

[justabob]

2. I wonder

I wonder what the percentage positive would be of other beneficiaries of federal dollars. I'd be willing to bet it is much, much higher than that of welfare/food stamps recipients.

[MedicalAdmin]

18. Note to dumbshit repubs: if you are on food stamps ...

It is highly unlikely that you can afford drugs. The Kochroach bros. on the other hand can afford the best because they are on corporate welfare.

[joshcryer]

3. Spend $178 million to "save" $100k. Goddamn apalling. GODDAMN APALLING.

I saw this before on one of my facebook friends' page, this is just incomprehensible.

[MrMickeysMom]

4. It easy to pick on them...

Those cowardly fucks should try making their way under similar circumstances.

It shows that the population has a better record than the pasty white Republicans who control their circumstances.

[lunasun]

5. OOOOPPs There goes another one of their hateful stereotypes about being poor!!

[Igel]

7. This was already discussed.

When it was a new report.

The first discussion pointed out a few confounds. For example, if you use and you know that applying for welfare will (1) get you tested and (2) likely get you arrested, do you apply?

Now, there are ways of doing things like measuring the application rates to see if there's a decline, but short-term the statistical noise would drown out the signal so you couldn't say much useful about the data. Nobody wants to hear the long term, because, well, that implies waiting a long time.

This makes the observation mildly interesting but meaningless, and that means it's not really useable by either side.

[joshcryer]

11. Where does it say you'll get arrested if you fail it?

That'd be crazy.

Either way we're going to get the application rates over time. If they follow unemployment / poverty trends then they will likely represent reality. I highly doubt drug use plays into it for welfare recipients to any significant extent. It's like those who were using their welfare withdrawal cards at an ATM in a casino. Yes, a small, utterly insignificant portion of people were exploiting the system. But if it's going to cost a thousand times more to capture those culprits, than it would be to "eat it" then it's simply not worth it.

[Sirveri]

9. It's 98% drug free, not 96%.

2% positive results....

[Emit]

10. another 2 percent are not completing the application process, for reasons unspecified.

from the link

[Sirveri]

24. I stand corrected, though wouldn't they be exempt from figures then?

What you've done is basically put them all into the guilty category, when a person defending their civil liberties should never be assumed to be guilty.

[jmowreader]

14. So, in other words...

96 to 98 percent of welfare applicants use their benefits for their families rather than buying drugs with them.

The sickest part of this whole thing will come in 2014, when Rick Scott campaigns on the money he saved the state by preventing drug-addicted people from collecting welfare. You know he's gonna.

News flash: When someone exploits his business experience when running for office, PLEASE find out how they ran their businesses! Because for some strange reason, every fucking time a Republican does this shit, he turns out to have been a piss-poor businessman. Dubya ran three oil companies into the ground, Rick Scott got rich through Medicare fraud, Herman Cain closed stores and shrank the menu...

[Contrary1]

15. Those who use Facebook need to share this one...

I caught hell earlier this year because I was against the testing. Time to rub it in their faces.

[SwampG8r]

16. what a dumbass

poor people cant afford drugs
we got bills to pay
i hope everyone knows his wife is an owner of the contract holder company for this testing

[DrunkenBoat]

17. I think you should make it an OP so it will come up better on searches for rick scott - drug testing

One of the more popular services at Solantic, the urgent care chain co-founded by Florida Gov. Rick Scott, is drug testing, according to Solantic CEO Karen Bowling.

Given Solantic's role in that marketplace, critics are again asking whether Scott's policy initiatives - this time, requiring drug testing of state employees and welfare recipients - are designed to benefit Scott's bottom line.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/money/gov-rick-scotts-drug-testing-policy-stirs-suspicion-1350922.html

[Mimosa]

21. Scott is a corrupt putz. n/t

[Emit]

19. I did not know that until just a bit ago when someone up thread noted that

[eShirl]

20. What's the estimated % of false positive for those tests?

[quaker bill]

22. People with drug habits

really do not hang around government offices. Personal experience suggests that substance abuse problems (mostly alcohol) are pretty common among the local homeless population. Very few of these folks even have the ID needed to apply for benefits. Further, many of the worst affected do not like institutions of any sort and will even avoid the shelters unless the night is cold or wet, or they need to do laundry.

I have been volunteering at local shelters for 25 years now. The people who seek benefits are a different group of folks, as the tests indicate. My guess is that few republicans hang out in places where they might learn this.

[Ilsa]

23. Scotty has some explaining to do, including why he's making

Money on the side of the fiasco while asking the taxpayers to give up more cash.

[Emit]

25. yeah, i didn't know that 'til someone pointed that out

that should've been noted in the article, imo

[Rex]

26. And if the test was turned against its paymasters.

How many of Rick Scott's cohorts would come back positive on a drug test? We all know he would! Sadly, some animals are worth more then others.

[mdmc]

27. ..

[lib2DaBone]

28. That's why pRick Scott spent $78 million to get a job that pays $125K a year...

pRick knows he is going to get his money back ten-fold from the good people of Florida.

Get your free Pink Slip Rick bumper sticker today
http://www.pinksliprick.com/stickers

[Scurrilous]

29. What a waste. n/t