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Maine Governor Paul LaPage and Drug Testing

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Maine Governor Paul LePage said Friday he wants to require random drug testing for welfare recipients. 

"I'm going to ask the Legislature to allow us to do what every truck driver in the United States of America has to do, take a random test," he said. "I think if we're going to take our own limited resources, we ought to be able to test 'em on occasion."
 
I think this is a great idea as many states are trying to incorperate this in their states.  I love the argument from the cival rights people stating that this is an infrigment on peoples private lives.  Well my argument is that when someone recieves public funds their private lives as far as drug abuse become very public.

I am sure that there are people that receive welfare or support from my and your government that have no problem submitting to a drug test.  The people who oppose it in my mind are abusing the system and we must do something to correct the problem.

  
With regard to drug testing, the Legislature added provisions in the budget this year that allow the state to test people who receive funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program if they have a felony drug conviction. LePage said he wants to take it a step further and explained that he believes people go "benefit shopping" when deciding where to live.
 
As proof, he talked about an email he received recently from a woman who asked him if the benefits provided by Maine are better than those in New Hampshire.
 
"I found that very insulting," he said. "I responded by saying 'ask not what the state of Maine can do for you, but what you can do for the state of Maine. Have a nice life."'
 
Robyn Merrill of Maine Equal Justice, which provides legal services for the poor, said random drug-testing programs in other states have been found to be unconstitutional. She said that's why a bill that would have required random drug testing for MaineCare recipients did not pass earlier this year.
 
"Random drug testing is very questionable legally with respect to constitutional issues," she said. "If the government has the right to drug-test people based on receipt of aid from public assistance programs, what is to stop the government from requiring drug testing for anyone who receives a student loan or any other government benefit? This law would create a very slippery slope with respect to infringement on people's right to privacy."

A student loan is a loan and is expected to be paid back so Robyn Merrill's argumemnt holds no warter there and maybe our goverment needs to start sliding down that "slippery slope" as the well paved road has got us were we are today.
 
In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott urged the Legislature to adopt a drug-testing initiative for welfare recipients earlier this year. A story in the Tampa Tribune published in late August stated that 2 percent had tested positive since the program began July 1. In Florida, those who get cash welfare benefits have to pay for their own test, but get reimbursed by the state if they pass, the newspaper reported.
 
The savings to the state could reach nearly $100,000 a year in Florida, although the cost of staff time and money spent to implement the program had not yet been calculated, according to the Tribune. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has since sued the state, which is appealing an injunction that has stopped the practice.
 
More than two dozen states have proposed drug testing for those who get welfare benefits or other assistance, but Florida was the first to enact such a law in more than a decade.

Info from MaineToday Media State House Writer Susan M. Cover