ORDER
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago is a home rule unit of government pursuant to the 1970 Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6 (a); and
WHEREAS, pursuant to its home rule power, the City of Chicago may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, the Chicago Housing Authority has proposed a policy to drug test Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) residents and applicants for housing; and
WHEREAS, this drug testing would apply to all individuals over 18 years of age including senior citizens; and
WHEREAS, the State of Florida recently enacted new rules wherein welfare recipients and new state government hires are required to submit to drug tests; and
WHEREAS, there has been a national movement to require all welfare recipients to participate in drug screenings in order to obtain their benefits; and
WHEREAS, typically, drug testing identifies the presence of alcohol and illegal drugs including cannabis (marijuana and hashish), cocaine, opiates (codeine, morphine and heroin) phencyclidine and amphetamines; and
WHEREAS, according to a National Institute on Drug Abuse study, drug and alcohol abusers are five times more likely to file a Workers' Compensation Claim; and
WHEREAS, a similar study from the American Council for Drug Education shows that drug and alcohol abusers are 10 times more likely to miss work; and
WHEREAS, the City of Chicago seeks to promote the hiring of a drug free workforce; and
WHEREAS, random drug testing helps to protect City residents from unnecessary risks of personal harm and inefficient use of their tax payer dollars; NOW THEREFORE
BE IT ORDERED, that the City Council of the City of Chicago hereby directs the Commissioner of the Department of Human Resources to develop and implement a random drug screening program for all City employees; and
BE IT FURTHER ORDERED, that the elected official...
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