Florida Is The First State Requiring Drug Testing For Welfare

Some people are crying this is unconstitutional.

How is this unconstitutional? It's completely legal that every other working person had to pass a drug test in order to have a J-O-B that supports those on welfare!

Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the Republican-sponsored bill into law, adding Florida to a list of states trying to drug-test welfare recipients.

Should Louisiana pass this law too? Vote yes or no in our poll.

Most people CNN asked outside the office of the Florida Department of Children and Family agreed with the state's new law.

"I'm for it because I know people who misuse the funds," said unemployed Kennley Grant outside a central Florida welfare office where he is applying for government assistance.

"I think it's good," said Lissie Bryant, who has an adult son who gets benefits. "There are so many people walking around here that are getting welfare that really don't deserve it and they're taking the money and buying drugs."

Florida Gov. Rick Scott recently told CNN's TJ Holmes, "I want to make sure our taxpayers are not subsidizing drug addiction.

"Studies show people who are on welfare are higher users of drugs than people not on welfare," he said.

On CNN's request, the governor's office supplied several studies that showed drug use was higher among welfare recipients.

One document from a public policy brief on substance abuse had statistics from the National Survey of Drug Use and Health: A self-reported survey in 2007 found 20% of women ages 18-49 on welfare reported using illicit drugs compared to 10.3% of women of the same ages not on welfare.

[CNN]