State employees in Florida can now get back to all the cocaine-and-quaalude-fueled late nights we imagine they put off after Governor Rick Scott issued a March 2011 executive order requiring random drug tests for state workers. A federal judge has ruled that such tests violate folks’ protections against unreasonable search and seizure. [More]
drug testing
Legislators Totally Cool With Required Drug Testing Unless It Applies To Them
By 1.30.12
One way to get a politician to withdraw a bill requiring drug-testing for welfare applicants? Just tell him lawmakers also have to get tested, and see how fast he boomerangs. Rep. Jud McMillin, a Republican member of the Indiana General Assembly, took back his drug-testing bill after one of his helpful Democratic colleagues amended it ever so slightly. [More]
Federal Judge Blocks Florida's Plan To Drug Test Welfare Recipients
By 10.25.11
Earlier this year, Florida enacted a law that requires welfare recipients to pass drug tests to qualify for benefits. A federal judge stepped in and stopped the law in its track marks over concerns that it violates the Fourth Amendment, which bans illegal searches and seizures. The law would have forced recipients to pay for their own drug tests. [More]
Florida Will Screen Welfare Recipients For Drug Use
By 6.6.11
Florida has passed legislation that would force welfare recipients to undergo drug tests before they’re able to receive aid. The law, set to go into effect July 1, would make applicants to the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program pay for the tests upfront, but ensures they will be reimbursed if they pass. [More]
Walmart Fires Employee For Using Medical Marijuana
By 3.14.10
Warning: Even if medical marijuana is legal in your state and you have a valid prescription, your employer can still fire you for using it. A Michigan man learned this the hard way after failing a drug test given by his employer of five years, Walmart. [More]
Coming Soon: Schizophrenics on Viagra
By 9.21.06
That’s right, Pfizer, of Viagra-fame has set its sights on a different illness, schizophrenia. “Researchers at Pfizer are using insights into Viagra to design experimental drugs that may improve on Zyprexa, the best- selling schizophrenia remedy from Eli Lilly & Co., with $4.2 billion in sales last year.”
