96% of Florida welfare cash recipients pass drug tests.Follow

No. I'm assuming that everything else being equal people who are using illegal drugs are less likely to be able to obtain and/or keep good paying jobs and thus get themselves off of the government assistance in the first place. And certainly, if someone is spending any money at all on drugs that's money that could have been spent on whatever it is we're paying the assistance money for.



Not all injuries and disabilities permanently prevent someone from working. But habitual drug use often does. The conservative approach here is to try to make government assistance temporary to the greatest degree possible.



Sure. But we're focusing on money that's being spent on things that are likely to hinder someone's ability to re-enter the workforce. I don't agree with the idea that because an action doesn't solve every problem we shouldn't employ it. It does address this problem.



Well, a lot of fraud in the assistance system does revolve around or include illegal drug use, but that's really not the point. We should assess the viability of this program on its own merits. If we can get even a few percent increase in the rate of people who are able to get off the programs and into the workforce, it will pay for itself. And like I said earlier, it's not always just about the money. If we're going to spend money one way or another, I'd rather we do it in ways which encourage productive behavior than in ways which do the opposite.

What part of "but that's not really the point" didn't you get? The fact that I happen to believe that a good percentage of fraud in the system does involve people who are using illegal drugs while on welfare is in addition to the other reasons why I think this is a good idea.

The difference between a fact and an opinion isn't based on whether one write "I think" in front of it. But hey! Like I said, this is a side point. If you don't like it, or don't agree, feel free to ignore it. It's interesting that you choose to zero in on the one part of my post that I went out of my way to say wasn't required or necessary to the point I was making.



Kinda off target then, wasn't it?

When did you start voting Democrat?

It's illegal here, as it should be.

It is absolutely insane that someone could be barred from employment because they had a puff of pot on the weekend. Give me a break.

Meanwhile they could be passed out on their front lawn, drunk as a skunk 7 days a week but that's okay.

As long as employees are not coming to work impaired, it should be their own damn business what they do on the weekend.

No. But with the number of businesses we oversee as a management company, it does come up.

High-profile jobs, maybe? Pot has a bad public image, whether you agree with that or not. If someone is publicly busted for pot, it could reflect poorly on the company in the public's eye.

Eh, I guess it depends where you live and what you do... first of all, no one is busted here for pot unless they are growing/selling - the police officers involved would rather not fill out a bunch of paperwork so that crown council could shrug their shoulders and toss the case in the wastepaper bin.

And considering most of the press here (as far as I can tell) is pro-decriminalization, I don't see a lot of bad image happening if some police officer was having a bad day and decided to try to get you in trouble for it (not to mention you would have to be an important public figure for it to even register as a story)...and once again - simple possession of a small amount of pot would never make it past crown council. (Here charges are not laid until crown council assesses the likelihood of conviction)

Honestly for a lot of people it would probably help their career. We have a Pot Party here, and it IS our province's biggest export. Would probably only hurt someone/a brand if they were heavily reliant on the Chinese community or another similar conservative leaning demographic.

So

a) No one would ever even hear about it if you did happen to get caught smoking (unless you were hanging out in an elementary school playground getting toddlers high or something)

b) The chance of actually getting charged with simple possession is quite small (again unless you were hanging out in an elementary school playground getting toddlers high or something)

c) Smoking weed is not seen as a big deal by most people here - because almost everyone either smokes themselves or know someone who smokes or smoked it when they were in college.

Edited, Sep 8th 2011 11:16am by Olorinus

*shrug*

I think public perception of it is changing, but as you said, it depends on the area. I've lived in places where it'd be a big deal. Silent majority and whatnot.

Personally, I don't know if I'd ever see a real need to drug test for it. It's just that there are enough plausible reasons for it that I'm not shocked if a few places do it. If I had to guess, I'd say that won't last, though.

I'd say that a "get help or GTFO" kind of statement is enough if someone shows up drunk at work. Do you need to do more than that?

The human rights tribunal in Canada is a travesty.

Edited, Sep 8th 2011 2:42pm by Xsarus

Canada is weird.

I walk down the streets in the middle of the day and normal-looking people come up and ask me if I want to buy some pot. I politely decline, and they tell me to have a nice day.

Weird.