Order to stop drug testing extended

DETROIT (AP) - A temporary restraining order directing the state to stop requiring drug testing for welfare recipients has been extended, a federal judge ruled yesterday.

In handing down the decision, U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts said that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the merits of their claim.

A group of welfare recipients and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan last year asked Roberts to issue a temporary restraining order on the grounds the testing is unconstitutional. Roberts granted the original order in November.

The ACLU has said the effort is an "unreasonable search" in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The drug testing is part of a pilot program that began Oct. 1 in a handful of Michigan communities. It requires most welfare applicants to provide urine samples for drug screening before they can be considered for benefits.

No one who screens positive for drugs would be denied food stamps or assistance checks, and police wouldn't be notified. But offenders who don't go to state-ordered treatment risk the gradual loss of benefits.

Yesterday, Roberts said "drug testing under these circumstances must satisfy a special need, and that need must concern public safety. In this instance, there is no indication of a concrete danger to public safety which demands departure from the Fourth Amendment's main rule and normal requirement of individualized suspicion."

Karen Smith, spokeswoman for the state Family Independence Agency, said the department plans to give the decision a careful review.

"We're not surprised. In some of the judge's earlier comments, she made it clear that this was the direction she was heading in," Smith said. "We believe it is still an important idea that addresses real barriers for our clients. We are disappointed but not surprised."