by B. L. Babb

Created on: May 11, 2010

Drugs, legal and illegal, are used and abused by all walks of life.  The wealthy, the ever politically popular "middle class," and the poverty stricken.

The wealthy who abuse drugs will eventually be discovered, either by their untimely death or their drug use will invade their work and come to light.  Primary examples include, but are not limited to: River Phoenix, Jim Belushi, and even Michael Jackson (granted currently it seems his Doctor may have helped, but he was free to stop at any time, or at least recognize he had a problem - which he refused to do).  Those still living can be found in the likes of Mackenzie Philips and her sudden departure from the 70s sitcom One Day at a Time, Robert Downey Jr. and his frequent visits to rehab, as well as many others. You know the names, they are in the news periodically.

The middle class are the people politicians constantly mention as the ones their legislation will help - but nobody seems to have the same definition of middle class.  The middle class typically has sufficient funds to live comfortably and not paycheck-to-paycheck.  Eventually, however, their drug use will migrate to drug addiction and then drug abuse.  When it does, their world will also crash down around them.

The only class that abuses drugs that the government can attempt to have any sort of control over is the poverty stricken.  If you do not have the money to feed your family, then you should not be wasting money on recreational drugs - including alcohol and tobacco!  IF you are receiving subsidized income from ANY state, city, local, or Federal government entity, then you should be subjected to regulations designed to ensure funds are being used for their intended purpose. 

Since it is impossible to follow each and every recipient around daily, the next best option is drug testing.  Fail a drug test and you lose your subsidized income for a week.  Fail again within a 6 month period and lose your subsidized income for a month.  A third failure within a 3 year period results in permanent loss of government funded assistance. 

This includes but is not limited to housing, food stamps, medial care, transportation assistance, and/or any other aid - financial or tangible - government benefit, that the recipient is receiving.

What would this do?  Well, for those who refuse and continue drug use and abuse, it stops their use of government - read this as taxpayer dollars - to purchase

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