Ohio legislator proposes drug testing for unemployment benefits

An Ohio Republican state senator has introduced a bill requiring unemployed people to take a drug test before receiving unemployment benefits or welfare. A drug test they'd have to pay for up front, and be reimbursed for if they passed. You might look at this as another crazy proposal that's not going anywhere, and maybe it won't be passed in Ohio. But it's actually modeled on a Florida law requiring welfare recipients to take and pass a drug test to get benefits; only the part that targets unemployment benefits is really new. State Sen. Tim Grendell joins a long line of Republicans blaming unemployed people for an economy with no jobs, saying:

“Hard working taxpayers of the state of Ohio should not have to pay for the drug habits of illegal drug users,” Grendell said in a press release.

“This assistance from the state is for those who need these funds for food and shelter, not illegal drugs.”

We've gone two and a half years in an economy where there are more than four job-seekers for every job, and Republican lawmakers are still trying to pin the problem on individual unemployed people.

Aside from that, the Florida bill Grendell's bill is based on is running into some big problems, even taken completely on its own terms:

What’s more, the Florida law is actually costing rather than saving the state money. Only 2 percent of welfare recipients actually failed the drug tests, which means Florida will reimburse the 96 percent of recipients the $30 for the drug test. Florida will now owe “about $28,800 – $43,200 monthly in reimbursements.”

So even if you're a Republican who thinks jobless people are somehow to blame for the lack of available jobs in the economy, this kind of law is a pointless waste of money. Unless the point is solely to victimize people struggling to get by—which it just may be.