Urine or You're Out

[Beetlenut]

Got this in an email today:

THE JOB - URINE TEST


Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government
distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine
test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.


Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?
Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their behind, doing drugs, while I work. Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

Thoughts?

 

[ctenidae]

Ten foot pole.
I would not use it.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I've always thought drug testing was an invasion of privacy..some companys only drug test if you were injured on the job. If John smoked grass on November 1st and fell off the forklift on November 20th..in the hospital he would test positive for marijuana and therefore would most likely lose his job for working with drugs(THC) in his system..since it's stored in fat cells and lingers in the body for up to 2 months. But if John would have smoked some crystal meth instead..on November 1st..he'd have passed the test with flying colors and could remain employed since methamphetimines and other stimulants only remain in a persons body for a few days.

So if somebody needed to pass a urine test for a public asssistance check..they're better off being a crackhead..Most people on Public assistance are not out living the good life and partying all the time like Eddie Murphy..they are having trouble finding a job or may have some sort of disibility..I feel like these people should receive public assistance checks even if they are on drugs. The true addicts who would lose their check would probably just rob people for food and drug money..It's kind of a lose lose situation. It's better over in the Netherlands where Heroin addicts get free Heroin..and there is less crime because people don't need to steal to support their habit..

Just my 4 cents

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Ok GSS.. here is your first test at being a moderator ... would you consider this post too political? How would you handle it??

I already responded to it..and didn't give any thought as whether it was political or not. It's a subject I have opinions about..

 

[Beetlenut]

Ok GSS.. here is your first test at being a moderator ... would you consider this post too political? How would you handle it??

Not political, just found the perspective interesting and thought it would illicit some lively banter.

 

[Trekchick]

My business has a random drug test in place.
GSS you may think its an invasion of privacy but you wouldn't feel bad about it if a drug using truck driver ran over your ass.


Beetlnut, I agree with you completely. Why should my hard earned $$$ go to recreational drug/alcohol consumption?

By them food, heat and necessities, but if they can afford drugs and booze then they can afford potatoes and beans.

 

[dmc]

not every job needs drug testing...

The only thing you can really find in urine is weed... Other drugs pass through the system fast... THC dwells in fat so it sticks around....

You can test someone who did a ton of coke of heroin 4 days after and find nothing...

if someone has their shti together enough to stop smoking week for a month then I think they are good...

 

[JD]

People will do what they have to to get their fix. I think drug tests should be performance based. If you get stoned or high and can do your job, fine. You can drink and show up and work, fine. If you abuse those things and can't function at work, you have a problem, and an employer should try and figure out what you problem is. Drug prohibition in this country is so fuct, so much of our tax dollars go to BS interdiction, and the illegality is the only thing that makes importation profitable. I would love to see some statistics on how many homes are ruined by alcholism vs. other habbits.....

 

[deadheadskier]

Having spent the better part of three years living next to a homeless shelter in Maine, I would somewhat side with the sender of the email. If I had to guess, 90% of them were milking the system and had no intentions of gaining their independence again. If you're a registered homeless person in Maine, you receive $750 a month CASH, food stamps (not sure of the value), free health care, free laundry facilities, three meals a day and a bed to sleep in at night provided you're not too wasted to cause a scene.

I saw the same people living this life for my entire time there. That tells me the system is broken. Most of them could give a fluck and would piss and litter all over the place even though they were 100 feet from the shelter where there were bathrooms and trash facilities.

You can only help or what was often the case re-habilitate those who want to better themselves. If they show no effort in doing so, then I'm all for cutting them off. As steeze said, then they'd turn to theft and from their probably jail, so the tax payer is still on the hook for supporting them, but at least in jail they're not being a nuisance to society by trashing neighborhoods like they've done to my old neighborhood.

 

[ripzillia]

I am an expert on drug testing. That's because I have been subjected to it for over +20 out of 30 years in my carrer. There are flaws with NIDA and other agencies but without supervision/laws some people will run amuck. Smart people don't really need rules,that's because they know right from wrong it's the stupid ones that have trouble with it. Personally, I don't think drug testing is the answer. In short if your going to test,test everyone.

 

[hardline]

there was a club that hired an outside management company to come in to help with dealing with operational problems(they where making so much money they couldn't keep track) so the management company decided it was going to drug test all the staff. no one showed up for work the next day. the owner walks in and is like wtf is going on? the manager told them the new policies they had instituted. next day the managment company was gone and all the staff was back.