Pubdate: Tue, 30 Apr 2013
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press (TN)
Copyright: 2013 Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.timesfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/992
Page: B4

TENNESSEE PREPS FOR WELFARE DRUG TESTS

NASHVILLE (AP) - Tennessee authorities are preparing to test welfare
recipients for drug abuse.

The Legislature passed a bill requiring it and Gov. Bill Haslam signed
it nearly a year ago. The statute gives the Department of Human
Services until July 1, 2014, to begin screening people receiving
welfare for illicit drug use.

The Tennessean reported the agency might begin with a diagnostic quiz
that could ask if assistance recipients ever have abused more than one
drug at a time or if they felt bad after abusing drugs. Depending on
the answers, a urine screening could be required.

The newspaper said preparations continue, despite a judge in Florida
stopping a similar plan over constitutional issues. Also, Arizona
authorities, who have been drug-checking welfare recipients for three
years, say they have caught just one offender.

"I don't rule out the possibility that we've captured two idiots,"
said Arizona state Rep. John Kavanagh, a former police detective who
sponsored the legislation there. "If I was going to do it again, I
would attempt to do a cross-check of Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families rolls and records of drug arrests, but based on our budget, I
don't want to create that expense."

Kavanagh said he wished Tennessee luck and said perhaps Arizona could
learn from what happens in Tennessee.

There are about 51,000 Tennessee families receiving Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families. The most recent report from DHS said
the cash payment averages $164 a month.

Sen. Stacey Campfield, R-Knoxville, was a sponsor of Tennessee's
statute. Campfield said he will consider the law a success if it only
reduces the number of applicants because they know they will be tested.

Pam McMichael of the Highlander Research and Education Center said the
law won't make neighborhoods safer or change stigmas.

"It's an extension of an already unsuccessful war on drugs," McMichael
said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt