Bill Could Require Drug-testing for Welfare Recipients
A state legislative committee is considering a bill to test all adult welfare recipients for drugs and take benefits away from anyone who tests positive.
The issue gained national attention when a California teen who was born addicted to heroin asked lawmakers to consider a similar proposal. The boy's mother was living on public assistance. An attorney who works with local welfare recipients says such widespread testing would be a waste of money, and that recipients suspected of drug use already undergo tests through social services. One Hazard woman on welfare says she has nothing to hide, and wouldn't mind drug tests.
"I would find that to be an intrusion to have to go for a drug screen when there's no suspicion," said Karen Alfono with the Appalachian Research & Defense Fund.
"If my taxpayer money was going to support somebody's habit, I would be upset," said welfare recipient Sandy Acosta.
Michigan required drug tests for welfare recipients for a short time in 1999, but a federal appeals court in Cincinnati ruled the law unconstitutional. | 
