Michigan Residents on Welfare may face drug tests

Welfare recipients could be required to take a drug test to continue receiving state aid under a legislation on its way to the state House. The bill approved Wednesday by the House Family and Children Services Committee would allow the Family Independence Agency to require a drug test if an employee has probable cause to suspect a recipient of substance abuse. It's the first time the Legislature has taken up the issue since the American Civil Liberties Union and the state reached a settlement to end their four-year dispute over the state's 1999 pilot program to drug test all welfare recipients. The agreement followed an April 2003 ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said the drug-testing program violated the Fourth Amendment. The agreement only would allow people suspected by a professional of having a drug problem to be subject to a test. The determination would be made, in part, by drug-use surveys filled out by welfare recipients. [more ]