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Massachusetts is reeling from a massive scandal in its state crime lab. Details are still emerging about what officials call a "rogue chemist" who may have mishandled evidence in as many as 40,000 cases over 10 years. It could mean the unraveling of countless convictions. Even lawyers prone to hyperbole may not be overstating it when they call the scandal a catastrophic failure and unmitigated disaster. "Any person who's been convicted of a drug crime in the last several years whose drugs were tested at the lab was very potentially a victim of a very substantial miscarriage of justice," says...

In 2010, the state of Florida successfully passed legislation requiring welfare recipients to submit to a drug test in order to continue receiving governmental assistance. Since then, the state has decreased the number of applicants by 48 percent and saved just under two million dollars. It is only a matter of time before more states catch onto this age of new fiscal restraints. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has modeled this Florida law in his state. In a press release from his office on Monday, Governor Deal praised Florida for their success and defended the law in his state saying, “This...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Rick Scott has quietly signed into law a bill allowing random drug testing of state workers. The governor's office announced the signing after normal working hours Monday night. The only suspense was when the Scott would sign the bill, not if he would sign it. The Republican governor already has tried to enforce random drug testing through an executive order. He suspended it, though, due to a court challenge. The new law also is certain to generate a lawsuit.

A federal judge temporarily blocked Florida's new law that requires welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving benefits on Monday, saying it may violate the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures. Judge Mary Scriven ruled in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 35-year-old Navy veteran and single father who sought the benefits while finishing his college degree, but refused to take the test. The judge said there was a good chance plaintiff Luis Lebron would succeed in his challenge to the law based on the Fourth Amendment, which protects individuals from being unfairly searched....

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As more Americans turn to government programs for refuge from a merciless economy, a growing number are encountering a new price of admission to the social safety net: a urine sample. Policy makers in three dozen states this year proposed drug testing for people receiving benefits like welfare, unemployment assistance, job training, food stamps and public housing. Such laws, which proponents say ensure that tax dollars are not being misused and critics say reinforce stereotypes about the poor, have passed in states including Arizona, Indiana and Missouri. In Florida, people receiving cash assistance through welfare have...

Gov. Rick Scott took his armchair president skills to CNN this morning as part of his belief that he has a say in federal government, and the CNN anchors made him look like a fool -- again. In early June, the governor went on CNN to defend his advocacy of drug-testing welfare recipients. He was asked three times what evidence he had that those on welfare have a higher rate on drug use -- one time he said, "I don't know," another time he didn't answer, and the third time he invented a scientific study on drug use. This time...

Santa Fe New Mexico So Pissed In Brief Alexa Schirtzinger April 27, 2011 On April 13, SFR reported on complaints of mismanagement filed by a resident of Casa Cerrillos, a substance-free housing program run by the St. Elizabeth Shelter Corp. At 3 pm the day the story published, Julia, the resident who filed the complaint, was issued a warning by Casa Cerrillos Program Manager Shea Goodluck-Barnes for failing to follow the proper grievance procedure by sending her complaints directly to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. At 3:30 pm, Julia was given a urinalysis test. At 4:50 pm,...

BATON ROUGE -- Having failed multiple times to get approval for his proposal to expand drug testing of public assistance recipients, Rep. John LaBruzzo retooled the bill Wednesday to focus on pregnant women. With that strategic shift, the House Health and Welfare Committee voted without dissent to require that the state test 20 percent of those who receive aid from the Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Block Grant Program. The priority would be on pregnant women, and no one who tests positive would lose benefits as long as they enter state-paid treatment programs....

Discussions on Welfare reform often included the proposal of random drug testing for the recipients. That language could also be included in the Health Care Reform Bill for those who accept the public option. Why should a tax payer be forced to pay for people who voluntarily wish to damage themselves and burden society with the costs? This question should be brought in the current discussion. The support from the left would die very quickly if that language were to be adopted. It also may force Pelosi to not include the public option in the bill.

snip In the past, such efforts have been stymied by legal and cost concerns, said Christine Nelson, a program manager with the National Conference of State Legislatures. But states' bigger fiscal crises, and the surging demand for public assistance, could change that. "It's an example of where you could cut costs at the expense of a segment of society that's least able to defend themselves," said Frank Crabtree, executive director of the West Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Drug testing is not the only restriction envisioned for people receiving public assistance: a bill in the Tennessee Legislature...

I read an article on Fox News this morning that shows several states considering random drug testing of recipients of food stamps, unemployment benefits and welfare. If you think about it, why not? It’s no different that getting drug tested at your place of employment, as pointed on below. “Nobody’s being forced into these assistance programs,” said Craig Blair, a Republican in the West Virginia Legislature who has created a Web site — notwithmytaxdollars.com — that bears a bobble-headed likeness of himself advocating this position. “If so many jobs require random drug tests these days, why not these benefits?” Blair...

Sylvia Syvenky went for a routine dental appointment in early October, expecting to have two caps on her teeth replaced. But something went terribly wrong. “I felt like I was choking,” Mrs. Syvenky said. “I couldn’t take a breath. All sorts of gurgly sounds were coming out of me.” She was rushed by ambulance to University Hospital near her home in Edmonton, Alberta, where doctors placed a mask on her face and forced air into her lungs. They told her she had heart failure. After her condition improved, they asked her to sign up for a study of a new...

The two whizzes who created a device to beat drugs tests just learned a valuable lesson: You don't pee on the United States government out of a fake penis and tell 'em it's raining. Robert Catalano and George Wills have just plead guilty in U.S. District Court for conspiring to sell the Whizzinator -- a prosthetic penis sold with a heating device and dried urine which, quite obviously, helps people fake their way through drug tests

Drug-testing proposal gets mixed response State House candidate wants to require it for anyone receiving government assistance By Jason Spencer jason.spencer@shj.com Published: Monday, October 6, 2008 at 3:15 a.m. Last Modified: Monday, October 6, 2008 at 9:06 a.m. Some clapped, some looked confused, some looked downright apprehensive. A couple of women in the back of the room said a heartfelt “amen.” Order a Reprint Weldon DavisBut when state House candidate Weldon Davis announced at a recent county Democratic Party rally that, if elected, he would push legislation to require drug testing on virtually anyone receiving government assistance — aside from...

Folks, I'm so mad I can't see straight and I hope the smarter(than me) people here at FR can advise us on this. At school registration we got a handout informing us about a change to school policy. Starting this school year, any student who wishes to participate in any extra curricular or co-curricular activities must consent to random drug testing! Needless to say I was 'stuned' and speechless. We're not a big metropolitan school district, we're a very small, rural school. This was apparently done during a closed session of the school board's meeting over the summer. As far...

River Dell Regional High School was one of three schools statewide to get a grant for its random drug testing program, federal officials said today. The school was awarded $43,100 for the upcoming school year as part of a $5.8 million grant program from the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Schools in Hillsborough and Brick also received grants. “It’s another tool to reinforce positive decisions,” said Stephen Schatz, spokesman for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. “It’s really geared toward treatment.” River Dell Superintendent Patrick Fletcher said the money will fund better testing that...

This is Belgian cyclist Kevin van Impe. His wife gave birth prematurely this year, and their son died hours after he was born. Last week van Impe was at a crematorium, making arrangements for his son's funeral, when a drug tester representing cycling's governing body showed up. Van Impe asked whether the tester would be kind enough to give him some space during his grieving process, but the tester would have none of it, telling him it was provide a urine sample immediately or be banned from the sport for two years: "He wouldn't even come back later in the...

SAN FRANCISCO -- A city can't require all job applicants to be tested for narcotics and must instead show why drug use in a particular job would be dangerous, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled against the city of Woodburn, Ore., which argued it was entitled to maintain a drug-free workplace by requiring job candidates to be screened for drugs and alcohol. The city was sued by Janet Lanier, whose job offer as a part-time page at the city library was withdrawn in 2004 when she refused a drug...

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as they see fit. In order to get that paycheck. I am required to pass a random urine test, which I have no problem with. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check, because I have to pass one to earn it for them? Please...

Making a central thread for people to link articles, post comments, discuss, etc -- the Floyd Landis, Tour de France Doping scandal.