Drug Testing the Jobless

In an article by the Huffington Post, the issue Nikki Haley, current South Carolina Governor,  raises about drug testing the jobless seems to be over exaggeration.  She wants the jobless to be tested before they can receive any unemployment benefits from the states.  However, her logic seems a bit discolored, as seen in her statement "I so want drug testing. I so want it." This is not a valuable reason that the state should relocate money, as a hope that it will save the state money in the long run. The people of the state want hard evidence that jobless have an issue using drugs. 


The article continues to pick out more of  Haley's exaggerations, including her comments on the Savannah River Site (SRS) having over half of their job applicants fail a drug test. She used this comment in order to gain support by South Carolina citizens, however upon talking to the site, SRS stated the do not drug test employees until after they are hired. Of the employees that were drug tested, less that one percent tested positive.


If this idea passes, South Carolina will be the first state to ever have an instituted mandatory drug test for the jobless to receive benefits. According the the National Employment Law Project (NELP), "sending hundreds of thousands of South Carolina citizens who have just lost their jobs off to a laboratory so that their state government will be satisfied they are not drug abusers is not a cost that the federal government would or should pay, and it would violate federal unemployment law to make unemployed workers pay for the test." Therefore, it is believed that the state would end up paying more than it would if the state just gave out the money anyways. A prime example of exaggerating the issue is seen with Florida drug testing citizen in order to receive welfare. Only 2 precent of those who applied for welfare tested positively. 


There is no doubt that the American people, including those in South Carolina do not want their tax money being wasted. However, is it really necessary to test the jobless? There is no hard concrete evidence that citizen's tax money need to be use drug testing the jobless, especially since there is no evidence that the jobless have a drug problem. The truth of the matter is we do not need to be focusing so heavy on preventing the jobless from engaging in drugs. There are other sectors, such as teens and college students, within the state that need more focus for prevent drug and alcohol abuse.