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USDA Blocks Georgia Food Stamp Drug Testing Law

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #837)
Drug War Issues

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has told the state of Georgia that its new law requiring some food stamp recipients to undergo drug testing violates federal policy. The state cannot implement the law, federal officials said Tuesday.

The Georgia law, passed in March and signed into law by Gov. Nathan Deal (R), would require food stamp recipients to undergo drug testing if state workers have "a reasonable suspicion" that they are using drugs. The "reasonable suspicion" language, common in a new generation of proposed bills aimed at drug testing public benefits recipients, is designed to get around federal prohibitions against random, suspicionless drug testing, which the federal courts interpret as violating the unwarranted search provisions of the Fourth Amendment.

But while Georgia was able to get around the Fourth Amendment concerns, the new law still runs afoul of USDA policy. That policy "prohibits states from mandating drug testing of (food stamp) applicants and recipients," wrote Robin Bailey, regional administrator of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, in a letter to Georgia officials.

While a number of states have passed "reasonable suspicion" (or the equivalent) public benefits drug testing laws, Georgia is the only one to have passed a law that includes food stamp recipients. Perhaps USDA's stance will discourage other states from enacting similar measures.

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

knowa (not verified)

Food stamps pale in comparison to the welfare of policing for profit of the drug war.

Tue, 06/03/2014 - 9:36pm Permalink
kickback (not verified)

The " drug war " in Georgia is all about " policing for profit " , with a good foundation of racism mixed in . I have been seeing it for years . It`s ugly . Ruthless . Is the Civil War really over in Georgia ? How many no-knock , military style , flash bang grenade assaults do you think take place in rich , white neighborhoods in Georgia , based on a " drug informant " tip ? Do I need to tell you ? Zero . Habersham County drug cops will throw a grenade into the baby crib . Then claim to not know that children were present . Again , it`s ugly .

Wed, 06/04/2014 - 12:41am Permalink
DdC (not verified)

profit on the drug war...
... and that is their only motive.

Urine testing for profits. Unreliable invasive and expensive. Measuring metabolites will never relate to impairment. Do it anyway. Measuring impairments might remove the wrong color or lifestyle. Can't risk that. Private max cap prison contracts. Forced rehabilitation, which is an oxymoron. Do it anyway. After all, Over a trillion spent in tax money criminalizing cannabis users. Went to prohibitionists, plus tax.

Drug mishandling may have tainted 40,000 cases

It’s always the money dwr
The cops depend on drug war money from seizures and drug war funding… prisons, treatment centers, drug testing companies, federal agencies, politicians, and more all profit from prohibition.

GOP Mogul Behind Drug Rehab 'Torture' Centers

So it should be no surprise…

New Study Finds That State Crime Labs Are Paid Per Conviction

Funding crime labs through court-assessed fees creates another channel for bias to enter crime lab analyses. In jurisdictions with this practice the crime lab receives a sum of money for each conviction of a given type. Ray Wickenheiser says, ‘‘Collection of court costs is the only stable source of funding for the Acadiana Crime Lab. $10 is received for each guilty plea or verdict from each speeding ticket, and $50 from each DWI (Driving While Impaired) and drug offense.’’

image

Employers Can Fire You For Using Marijuana

This is all the gossip does…

Boycott Companies Enabling Profit for Pisstasters!
Metabolites do not mean impairment. So WTF?
State Supreme Courts has ruled Reality is Arbitrary!

Pot Smokers Arrested In America At A Rate Of One Every 41 Seconds

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Food Stamps Become a Weapon in the War on Drugs

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“If I instituted drug testing at Cypress,
I would get a brick through my windshield, and I would deserve it.”

–T.J. Rogers, President, Cypress Semiconductor

Drug Testing Feels Economic Pressures

More Job Applicants Failing Workplace Drug Test

Cover-Ups, Prevarication's, Subversions & Sabotage

Florida governor still wants to pisstaste test the poor

Florida Gov. Rick Scott doesn't seem to get that drug testing welfare recipients isn't just demoralizing, wrong and illegal -- it's stupid an ineffective.

Scientific studies have shown that blood tests are incapable of determining driving impairment

Drug Free Florida is chaired by Carlton Turner
Soon after Turner left office, Nancy Reagan recommended that no corporation be permitted to do business with the Federal government without having a urine purity policy in place to show their loyalty. Carlton Turner became a rich man in what has now become a huge growth industry: urine-testing.

Shame on the Drug Worrier Profiteers…
? Nonsensical Harbingers of Idiocracy
? Misinformation S.A.M.
? If the Roots are Poison, So be the Fruit.
? Mooching Off Medicaid
? More DEA and UN Overreaching Arguments Against Legalization
? Won’t say why?
? The UN's complicity in international human rights abuses
? The Many Different Faces Of Cannabis In America
? Lobbyists Are Getting Rich Off of WoD

Sun, 06/08/2014 - 6:46am Permalink

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