SC GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Nikki Haley Wants Drug Testing For Unemployment Benefits

South Carolina’s Republican candidate for governor, Nikki Haley, wants mandatory drug testing for those receiving unemployment benefits.

“I’m gonna push to make sure that if someone fails a drug test in this state, that we are not gonna pay benefits,” Haley said at a press conference outside the S.C Department of Employment and Workforce. “That’s something I’m gonna push for, I think people of this state deserve that. Personal responsibility matters and we’re gonna continue to fight that fight.”

This fits the right-wing mindset that the unemployed are somehow lesser humans than us “good” people.  If ever enacted, this would likely face legal challenges and would likely not pass a constitutional test, as a similar program for welfare recipients already demonstrated.

A federal appellate court threw out Michigan’s random drug testing law in 2003, saying it violated the constitutional ban against unreasonable search and seizure.

And it turns out that a testing program would cost more than it would save.

Although individual drug tests run $75 or less, the costs of testing large numbers of recipients, users and non-users alike, would add up. The American Civil Liberties Union estimates that for every individual user discovered, the state’s expenses would be $20,000 or more. That runs counter to the argument proponents make that drug testing would save the state money.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.