Pubdate: Tue, 03 Jul 2012
Source: Hawke's Bay Today (New Zealand)
Copyright: 2012 APN News & Media Ltd
Contact:  http://hbtoday.co.nz/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2947
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

DRUG USERS STILL NEED OUR HELP

A close friend who works in adult education has told me many times of 
her frustration with student drug use.

On the other hand, she has often told me how her heart bleeds for her 
charges. The circumstances they have faced in their life being a 
reasonable explanation for their inability to get their lives on track.

She talks about sexual abuse, being surrounded by drug and alcohol 
use, and included in it from ages as young as 10, poor nutrition and 
no fixed abode.

That said, she says something has to change. Her course is supposed 
to give them qualifications, make them work-ready. Yet she has often 
told me about giving up on her Friday drive-around to collect her 
students for class because they won't turn up.

She is fully aware that success will be limited. And in many 
instances that will be because of drug use.

Now the National-led Government has come out with a warning to job 
seekers who don't take or fail a drugs test, that they face losing 
their benefit from mid-2013. It is the government delivering on a 
pre-election promise.

Currently there are no consequences for drug-takers who opt out of 
job applications when faced with a drug test, they say.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett said the finer details were 
still being finalised, but it is expected to affect the job seeker 
category made up of 135,000 beneficiaries "who the Government 
expected to be able to work, unless they had serious illness or injury".

Many will applaud the hard-line stance, and it is only right that 
employers expect their employees to be sober.

But I'm not so sure about the immediate loss of a benefit at this 
first stage. It smacks of punishing the symptom rather than treating 
the cause, and will just broaden the growing underclass in this 
country. With no support where will they turn for money? Crime, I 
would expect. And from there the consequences widen throughout the 
whole community.

It's been indicated that even those who take a drug test and fail 
will face sanctions.

Hopefully that will mean they will be forced into rehabilitation, 
with education, drug counselling and support services provided by the 
health system. And within a time frame they will be expected to 
front, clean and sober for further work opportunities.

For this is more than just a welfare issue.

It also involves crime and, therefore, the police. It is imperative 
that an even greater effort is made to cut off the supply of drugs 
which, according to my friend, are completely normalised in her 
students' circles.

The Government could stand accused of cutting costs in the short 
term, should it not take a holistic approach, be seen to address the 
many issues involved in and surrounding drug taking. The strength of 
proposed alcohol law reforms to come before Parliament soon will be 
an early test of their resolve to change the culture of abuse amongst youth.

There is no doubt some beneficiaries need to be dragged kicking and 
screaming into the real world. Those who won't take drug tests, won't 
sort themselves out, deserve to be skating on thin ice.

But for many of those who make the effort to apply for a job, often 
from a place of low self-esteem, it is a massive step forward. It 
would be a shame to consign them to the scrapheap.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom