On Thursday night’s The Daily Show, correspondent Aasif Mandvi traveled to Orlando, Florida to meet Louis Lebron, a Navy veteran on public assistance who refuses to submit to a state-ordered drug test.
Florida’s state legislature, led by Governor Rick Scott, mandated that all recipients of welfare should be tested for drugs in order to continue to receive benefits. Lebron believes that government drug testing is an infringement on his right to privacy.
Given that lawmakers also receive public money, Mandvi asked one legislator to take a drug test, then crashed a press conference with Governor Rick Scott and asked him to do the same. Surprisingly, the governor declined.
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98% of welfare recipients who were forced to take drug tests ended up testing negative, which the state then reimbursed them for, thus costing more taxpayer money.
ReplyDeleteCost of the tests averages about $30. Assuming that 1,000 to 1,500 applicants take the test every month, the state will owe about $28,800-$43,200 monthly in reimbursements to those who test drug-free.
This has proven to be a Very Bad Idea.