Current RI law allows for cash assistance to be provided to struggling, qualified Rhode Islanders who need help. One lawmaker has introduced legislation that would allowing random drug testing for welfare recipients. Republican Senator Elaine Morgan's proposal says testing positive for controlled substances would revoke assistance for up to a year. She says "if working Rhode Islanders' tax dollars are being used to fund this program, the people who accept this money should be subject to the same random drug testing they might encounter in the workplace." In the perfect world, she's right....but his far from a perfect world. Advocacy groups, including the ACLU, are against drug testing as a condition of eligibility for public assistance. The there's the price tag such legislation would require. Putting together the pee-pee police would likely cost more than what would be saved by those abusing the system. Plus it's Rhode Island and you know putting that enforcement team together would simply provide another opportunity for nepotism. Still, at least 15 states have enacted drug testing or screening similar to Morgan's proposal. Morgan's proposed bill is off the the Senate Committee on Judiciary where I'm sure it'll meet a quiet death.