Calif.: Act now to kill bad drug testing bill!
The California Senate is currently considering legislation that would require CalWORKs welfare recipients be subjected to random drug testing. The bill, S.B. 384, would mandate that any recipient who tests positive for certain drugs — including marijuana — enter into a one-year drug treatment program or suffer total loss of benefits.
S.B. 384 is slated to go before the Senate Committee on Human Services next Tuesday, April 28. Our records indicate that your state senator sits on this committee, so you’re in a unique position to help stop this bad legislation.
Just visit MPP’s action page and enter your ZIP code to obtain contact information for your senator and a sample script, which is provided to help guide you through your call.
MPP opposes this legislation on the grounds that it unfairly discriminates against marijuana users — even legally qualified medical marijuana patients. S.B. 384 is also reckless fiscal policy. Spending tax dollars on costly drug testing and often unnecessary treatment programs for marijuana users during the worst fiscal crisis in California history is an absurd proposition.
The bill’s author, Senator John Benoit (R-Palm Desert), tried to enact this ill-conceived policy last year while he was in the Assembly. Fortunately, that bill died in committee and hopefully S.B. 384 will have the same fate.
This proposal is dubbed “R.J.’s Law,” after R.J. Feild, a Riverside County teen who suffers from cerebral palsy. R.J.’s tragic condition is linked to his mother’s use of drugs and alcohol while pregnant. This is clearly a horrifying case, but bad public policy is not the answer.
Don’t forget to call your senator and ask that they not let S.B. 384 out of committee.
Thank you for supporting MPP and sensible marijuana policy.
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