Welfare

2011 was a busy year in drug policy. Here is our selection of the biggest stories of the year here at home.

A bill that would subject welfare recipients to drug abuse assessments and possible drug testing if probable cause is found has passed a committee vote in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Bills targeting welfare recipients or people on unemployment insurance for drug testing are all the rage again this year.

The mania for drug testing people on welfare, unemployment, or Medicaid continues this year. A Mississippi solon wants to drug test anyone receiving public benefits, and other states are moving ahead, too.

Newt Gingrich laid out a hard-line approach to drug policy targeting US drug users as well as Mexican cartels in an interview Saturday.

A Florida federal district court judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking Florida's welfare drug testing program.

Between now and the seating of a new Congress after the 2012 elections, drug reform is going to be a tough slog on Capitol Hill. But that doesn't mean reformers are going away, or that there aren't battles to be fought and won.

The new Florida law require welfare applicants to pass a drug test has now been challenged in federal court.