On the surface the purpose is noble, aiming to reduce use of illegal drugs in West Virginia.
However, we have major problems with a potential bill aiming to implement random drug testing for welfare recipients and state lawmakers that Delegate Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, hopes to introduce in the West Virginia Legislature.
Blair introduced a drug-testing bill during the 2009 legislative session, a measure aimed at testing individuals who received social service payments including welfare, food stamps or jobless benefits. It died without getting out of committee.
Now he has a new bill that will require “random drug testing for recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash benefits and for legislators of the State of West Virginia.”
Those are obviously significant changes from a year ago when there were many more targets for comprehensive, not random, drug testing.
We’ll take Blair at his word when he says his purpose is to help, not punish.
“Under this proposal, if you apply for assistance and test positive for illegal drugs, you have two months to get clean and still receive benefits,” he told the Martinsburg Journal last month. “But this is also new because if two months later, you are in treatment and still test positive for drugs, you still get your payment. We’re trying to help people, give children their parents back, while we also stop substance abuse.”
The legislation, though, has significant problems.
At the top of the list is a constitutional one.
Michigan passed a law in 1999 requiring drug testing for those receiving public assistance, but it was struck down by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 2003. The court ruled that drug testing welfare recipients violated the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
The contention that acceptance of state service should lead to ability to randomly test is weak. Would anyone about to drive onto a state road, for example, be subject to a drug test despite showing no suspicious behavior?
Also, randomly testing the relatively small percentage of the population receiving TANF payments would have a miniscule effect on drug use in West Virginia.
There is also the issue of cost. Delegate Sally Susman, D-Raleigh, distributed a press release last month saying the proposal would affect 169,000 people and cost the state $9.7 million. Blair, though, said costs would be much lower because the bill only requires testing for people who are not yet in the state assistance program.
Drug testing is also not foolproof. There are false positives, and there is an underground industry centered on beating the tests.
We strongly support efforts — from education to strong law enforcement — to fight the use of illegal drugs.
Singling out a group of West Virginians for random drug testing is simply not an effective part of that strategy.
Delegate Tim Manchin, D-Marion, made the point well:
“The concept is great, but the complexity is overwhelming. Anybody that tries to reduce the whole thing to something simple is bordering on political grandstanding.”
