Speaking of drug use: Think Progress reports another example of the inefficiency and waste of Republican-backed programs to require drug testing of people who receive public assistance, such as food stamps.

It’s a count from West Virginia, three months into a drug-testing program expected to cost $50,000 a year:

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The program has now been in place for three months and just four people, less than one-half of a percent of all applicants, tested positive. In the general population, the rate of drug use is 9.4%.

Arkansas has expanded its effort to drug-test welfare recipients. But earlier Think Progress reporting already indicated Arkansas’s experience in line with that of West Virginia.

Arkansas also began to implement its testing law in 2016. According to an end-of-year report provided by the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, out of 3,040 applicants for the state’s Transitional Employment Assistance and Work Pays program, just six were actually given drug tests and two came back positive. Another 11 did not take the test. The cost to the state: $30,243. Still, in January the state legislature enacted a new bill to make the testing policy permanent.

If this is good public policy, it should be extended to additional classes of public welfare — members of the legislature and corporate executive receiving millions in taxpayer subsidies. Right?

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