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Saturday, February 13, 2016

North Carolina Drug Testing Welfare Applicants

Starting late last year, North Carolina began issuing drug tests to new applicants for certain state welfare benefits. Now the state is reporting that 24 percent of the first batch of applicants tested came up positive for illegal drugs.

State officials report that of the 89 applicants given the drug test, 21 of them tested positive. An additional 70 applicants who were told to take the test never showed up for their appointment and consequently never got benefits.

The law requiring drug testing of Work First recipients suspected of drug use was signed into law in 2013 despite Republican Governor Pat McCrory’s veto — his first such action.

In his veto statement, McCrory said the legislature “overreached” with its drug testing requirement. McCrory also said the program is too costly.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I think that not having to hand out benefits to 50% of applicants will MORE than pay for the "expensive" program!

Anonymous said...

The ones that were found to fail the drug test should be followed to find their dealers.....and/or prosecuted for possession!

Anonymous said...

I love it, should be done in all 50 states.

Anonymous said...

All they have to do is stay clean for a month, and they pass. After that, it's not really effective unless every single one is random tested at least twice a year.