Governor Rick Scott signed a law requiring welfare applicants to agree to submit urine, blood or hair samples for drug testing before receiving cash benefits from the state.
"The goal of this is to make sure we don't waste taxpayers' money," Scott said. "And hopefully more people will focus on not using illegal drugs."
But the ACLU of Florida, which filed suit against Scott over a measure requiring government employees to undergo random drug testing, disagrees, and may sue over the welfare law as well.
"What (Scott) is doing is giving ugly legitimacy to an unfortunate stereotype that has been in this country for a couple of decades -- that all welfare recipients are a bunch of drug abusers," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida.
Welfare applicants will get reimbursed for negative drug tests. If the applicant fails the test they will be blocked from getting any welfare for six months. If they fail the test a second time, it will result in a three-year ban.
Parents who fail drug tests can only get welfare for their kids by naming another person who does not fail the drug test and must be approved by the state.
Controversy over the measure was heightened by Scott's association with a company he co-founded that operates walk-in care clinics in Florida and counts drug screening among the services it provides.
In April, Scott, transferred his ownership interest in Solantic Corp. to a trust in his wife's name, said the company would not contract for state business, according to local media reports.
No other state currently requires drug testing for welfare recipients.
The effectiveness of testing is unknown. A pilot program that tested welfare recipients from 1999 to 2001 found that there was little difference in employment and earnings between those testing positive for drug use and those who were clean, according to a Florida State University researcher.
The issue is whether drug testing is constitutional. "I work for the ACLU, and it's our job to prevent trampling on the constitutional rights of people," Simon said. The Constitution mandates that searches cannot be conducted without probable cause, he said.
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