The Governor opposes the system because there isn't long term funding despite the fact that the program is fully funded until 2014 through Federal grants and donations including 1 million dollars from the drug company that makes Oxycontin.but, when it comes to state employees, they appear to be guilty until proven innocent...I think the Editorial Board of the NWF Daily News has this one about right.
Governor Scott also opposes the oxycontin "pill mill" database because he thinks it would intrude on medical privacy. During a news conference the Governor said the data could be a target of hackers. "If the database gets breached, people have access to the average Floridian's health information."
A sample, please, for Gov. Scott | editorial, gov, please - EDITORIAL - Northwest Florida Daily News
A federal judge ruled in 2004 that random drug testing of most state employees violated their privacy.
?The state of Florida cannot force people to surrender their constitutional rights in order to work for the state,? Howard Simon, ACLU of Florida executive director, told The Associated Press. ?Absent any evidence of illegal drug use, or assigned a safety-sensitive job, people have a right to be left alone.?
Mr. Simon has a valid point about evidence of abuse.
If Gov. Scott believes drug abuse is rampant among state employees and job applicants, if he believes so many state workers are sniffing, snorting, smoking or shooting up illegal substances that Tallahassee must be mobilized to root them out, he should say so. And he should back up this charge with facts.
And if Gov. Scott believes drug abusers have so infested state government that Florida can no longer perform essential functions and citizens? safety is at risk, he should say that, too. And back it up.
Otherwise, the governor ought to ditch the pot patrol and go back to creating jobs and cutting the budget. That?s what voters hired him to do.
