Forwarded Message:
From: ivan brown <[log in to unmask]>

Dear all, I wrote this letter yesterday morning and emailed it
to John Baird and two other people. Later in the day, I found
it had been emailed all around to hundreds of people and I
received a lot of responses. This morning, I decided to send
it out to more people. This issue obviously hits a spot with
people. Now is the time to speak up!

Now the Ontario government wants to do drug-testing on welfare
recipients. This is an idea that has not worked in the US and
has been thrown out of US courts. No other government in North
America tests for drugs now.

To send a blunt message to John Baird, Ontario Minister of
Community and Social Services, copy the letter below and email
it to him.  Also, copy this whole message and email it to
other people.

Mr. Baird, I agree with the sentiments of the letter below.

John Baird
Minister of Community and Social Services
Government of Ontario
[log in to unmask]

Dear Mr. Baird,

I believe the idea to testing welfare recipients for drug use
merits a blunt response:  This has to be the DUMBEST idea
since the 69 cent tuna thing.

There are numerous reasons why this is a dumb idea, but I will
outline several below.

First, it doesn't make any economic sense.  The Ontario
government would spend millions testing welfare recipients,
and it would save very little money.  I don't want my tax
money spent this way.

Second, it is very degrading to a population that is already
on the margins of our society and is being left farther behind
every day. Ontario as a whole is moving ahead nicely, but
current welfare recipients are not.  They are people who
cannot support themselves, and who need help.  The vast
majority of welfare recipients do not waste their money on
drugs -- they are scraping the bottoms of their wallets
to find basic grocery money -- and do not need this further
degredation from the Ontario government.  I do not want to
have any part in such degradation through my elected
representative.

Third, efforts to test for drugs would put energy in the wrong
place. If there are a few welfare recipients who have problems
with drugs, they need help.  The last thing in the world they
need is to have their (inadequate) grocery money removed from
their wallets.  Those few people who ARE drug users will not
stop just because they don't receive the small amount of money
the Ontario government gives them.  They will turn to crime.
I do not want this scenario.


Fourth, the Ontario government will not have a legal leg to
stand on. There is simply no way you will be able to prove
that welfare money was spent on drugs.  For example, if a
person has traces of marijuana in his blood, he may very well
have taken a few puffs from a joint belonging to
someone else, or someone else may have given a joint to him.
A positive drug test will prove nothing about who actually
paid for the drugs.  In short, there is no way this would
stand up in court, and huge amounts of money would be wasted
getting to that point.  I do not want my tax dollars spent on
such a lost cause.

Fifth, testing and disqualifying for drugs does not make any
logical sense when thought of in the broader context of
people's lives.  Alcohol is also destructive.  Are you going
to deny welfare recipients access to LCBOs across the
province?  Smoking is tremdously bad for the health of
not only adult welfare recipients, but also their children.
Should people have to prove they are not welfare recipients
before they can buy cigarettes in the local corner store?

Sixth, what drugs are you planning to test for? Heroine?
Steroids? Marijuana?  Cocaine?  Prescription drugs?
Over-the-counter drugs? There is a lot of gray area here, as
you well know from the troubles with drug testing in sports
and other areas.  You could make a distinction between legal
and illegal drugs.  But even here there is a great deal of
gray area.  For example, in Canada, courts do not sentence
people for possession of marijuana, and, in fact, private use
of marijuana for relieving pain, stress, etc. has been legally
accepted. Welfare recipients might legitimately argue that
their lifestyles -- exacerbated by the low levels of welfare
payments and their constant harassment to get off welfare (in
other words, exacerbated by policy of the Ontario government
itself) -- are major causes of stress in their lives and
reasons why they need relief.  This argument may seem
far-fetched, but it is the kind of argument that could cost
the Ontario govenment -- MY tax money -- millions of dollars
in legal arguments that lead nowhere.

Last, testing welfare recipients for drugs makes Ontario the
laughing stock of the country and of civilized nations.
Ontario used to be a leader among developed nations in
forward-thinking methods of moving ahead socially.  Punitive
measures such as testing welfare recipients for drug use take
us back 75 years in our development, and stifle the seeking of
creative, modern, and helpful solutions to a problem - IF a
problem exists.  This is a good note to end on: Why be the
laughing stock of the civilized world when there is not a
shread of evidence that a problem even exists!?!

PLEASE abandon this ridiculous idea today.

Ivan Brown
100 Quebec Avenue, Unit 111
Toronto, Canada M6P 4B8