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Sarah Palin's Bus Tour; First Responders Watch Man Drown; Florida Welfare Drug Testing

Aired June 01, 2011 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Even if she weren't on a cat-and-mouse bus tour of American historic landmarks, plus Trump Tower, we would soon be hearing a lot more from and about Sarah Palin. It seems the state of Alaska is about to release some 24,000 pages of e-mails from her abbreviated stint as governor.

CNN and other news organizations requested those records way back when John McCain picked a running mate no one in the lower 48 had ever heard of. We'll of course keep you posted on anything that we might turn up.

In the meantime, Palin's One Nation tour is back on the road with a stop this morning on Liberty Island. She is still believed to be headed to New Hampshire by way of Boston, but she is still not announcing her itinerary.

It doesn't seem to matter. The buzz follows wherever she goes, and that goes double on a day like yesterday, when Palin shared a pizza with, yes, Donald Trump, and left all of the other GOP presidential prospects with the crumbs.

Joining me with their insights and the perspective on all of this, our CNN senior political analyst, Gloria Borger, and the host of CNN's "RELIABLE SOURCES," also the D.C. bureau chief for "Newsweek" and "The Daily Beast," Howard Kurtz. He'll be on the phone with us.

Howard, we in the mainstream media scratch our heads over the mileage Palin gets from so little apparent organization. And here we are giving her, oh, I don't know, maybe five more minutes of coverage.

Is this news or is this spectacle?

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST, "RELIABLE SOURCES": You just can't help yourselves.

KAYE: We're guilty.

KURTZ: It's stunning. I mean, look, Sarah Palin is a master when it comes to marketing herself and her brand, and keeping alive the possibility, which, of course, ,journalists are all rooting for, that she will run for president. But she organizes this bus tour, hundreds of journalists turn out. She doesn't even give them the schedule, so they've got to go chasing her. I've never seen anything like it. And yes, it is news to some degree because of her high profile, but I think it's fair to say that the press is going just a little bit overboard.

KAYE: Well, I guess we're guilty of that as well then.

Gloria, you have called this the Sarah Palin rebranding tour. Has she rebranded herself a serious potential candidate? I mean, can she do that?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think she certainly is trying to rebrand herself as somebody who is a little bit more optimistic. I think the problem that we have seen with Sarah Palin, and the polls reflect it, is that she is not really a positive candidate.

She really reflects people's resentments more than their hopes. And if you are going to run for the presidency in a successful way, or going to be a successful speaker, or anything, you have to have a little bit more optimism, which I believe that's what this tour is about -- you know, rediscovering America, the good in America. Lots of us don't need to be reminded of that, but Sarah Palin is out there doing just that for us, reminding us what a great country it is.

KAYE: And Howard, let's imagine six months from now, and Palin has in fact declared her candidacy, if she does. Can she still play the media the way that she does now, do you think?

KURTZ: Well, she certainly can run a very unconventional campaign. She doesn't have to, you know, go on every cable show, or necessarily do the Sunday shows, or sit down for a lot of profile interviews with newspaper reporters. But those who think that she can just kind of blow off the press, you know, that's a strategy that would appeal, I suppose, to some Republican primary voters who don't have much use for the "lame stream" media, as she so endearingly calls us. But it's not a real long-term strategy for getting yourself elected president.

And the fact is, she is pretty good on her feet. And I think that she would -- it would be good for her to spend more time engaging people like us rather than just using us as a punching bag.

KAYE: Yes.

And Gloria --

BORGER: Can I just say Sarah Palin -- I would just say Sarah Palin gets to have it both ways. Right?

She gets to call the media the "lame stream" media, but, in fact, this family vacation is all about getting the press to follow her. I doubt she would be doing it. I mean, it's not as if the bus is incognito, right?

KAYE: Right. BORGER: And, so, she gets to have it both ways. She gets to have us follow her, and then she gets to complain about the press following her and make us look foolish. Right? So from her point of view, what a great strategy.

KAYE: Yes. We are looking at video of the bus. There it is.

It has her signature on it. It has a piece of the Constitution on it. Certainly not incognito, but Gloria, if Palin does enter the race, who does she hurt and whom does she help?

BORGER: Well, you know, look, I think if Palin enters the race, Mitt Romney ought to thank her, because I think it would essentially freeze the race, and the Tea Party folks would go over to Sarah Palin. More establishment Republicans would go to Mitt Romney.

And don't forget, the thing that Republicans want to do most of all is win. They want a candidate who is electable, and Sarah Palin has a problem. Sixty-one percent of Independent voters have an unfavorable view of her. And so, if Republicans want to win, they have to be on board with somebody who can actually get elected, and that is Sarah Palin's big problem.

KAYE: And Howard, Palin is still on the Fox News payroll, correct? I mean, she certainly hasn't announced anything yet.

KURTZ: She, unlike Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who were kicked off of the Fox News payroll to run for president, she is still a Fox News contributor. And, of course, so that Fox gets the only television interviews with her.

And that is a sign, I think, that while she ultimately could jump into the race if she wants to -- I'm personally skeptical of that -- that she is not even close, because she would have to go to Roger Ailes, the Fox News chairman, and say, look, I'm getting serious about this thing. And she hasn't done that.

But one more point about this tour that is creating such a media frenzy. Basically, let's face it, because Donald Trump has gotten out of the race, and she is filling the entertainment vacuum.

I mean, even people who like and support Sarah Palin might want to come out to see her because she's playing this game with the press of not putting out the schedule, don't know exactly when and where she's going to appear. New Hampshire Republicans were complaining about not being able to get a schedule.

She I think she's doing this -- is being a little too cute in the way she's doing this. On the other hand, here we are talking about her.

KAYE: And Gloria, just very quickly, her aides have said that she could wait until October and declare, and it won't hurt her. Do you agree with that?

BORGER: No, I don't. I think that they believe that spontaneously, this grassroots organization will emerge, and she could win any primary.

I'm saying, look, yes, she could be a very unconventional candidate. But I still believe that waiting until October may make some people ask the question, gee, do you really want to be president if you waited?

You know, people kind of like the idea that you are willing to go through the process the way everyone has gone through the process. It's tough, but it is important. And I don't think it's a great idea to wait.

KAYE: Gloria Borger, Howard Kurtz, great conversation. Thank you both.

KURTZ: Thanks.

KAYE: I want you to take a look at this. Take a look at the Dow. It is down more than 200 points, about 206 points right now.

Our CNN Money folks tell us that two bad reports today are to blame for this, one on jobs, one on manufacturing. So we just wanted to let you know there that the Dow is down 206 or so.

Now to the Florida courtroom where prosecutors again are using Casey Anthony's own family -- her father, her mother, her brother -- to try to put her away. Lee Anthony told jurors today about bar- hopping in Orlando, not for kicks, but to try to find Casey in the days after Caylee, Casey's 2-year-old daughter, disappeared. That was in the summer of 2008.

I want to play you some testimony where Lee says tracking down Casey was the easy part.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK GEORGE, PROSECUTOR: What did your sister say about getting Caylee, when you could get Caylee?

LEE ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S BROTHER: Tomorrow.

GEORGE: Was it always tomorrow?

ANTHONY: It seemed that way.

GEORGE: Did you offer to go get Caylee that night?

ANTHONY: Yes, I did.

GEORGE: What did you say to your sister? What was your suggestion?

ANTHONY: I could go get Caylee. I could have my roommate at the time go get Caylee. There was in my mind no excuse why anybody couldn't go get Caylee.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: Well, more than a month went by before Casey let on to her family that Caylee was gone, at which time she accused a nanny of taking her. Lee said he never knew Caylee had a nanny, and no such person has ever been found.

Casey Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and several other crimes, and could get the death penalty if jurors don't buy the defense that Caylee drowned in her grandparents' pool and her grandfather helped cover it up.

You can watch special coverage of the Casey Anthony trial all day long on our sister network, HLN.

We are also watching the weather, because today is the start of hurricane season. Forecasters are predicting an above-average number of storms this season.

NOAA says one of the reasons for that is the Atlantic Ocean is warmer, up 2 degrees Fahrenheit, in fact. NOAA is expecting 12 to 18 named storms and up to six major hurricanes.

We'll talk to our own severe weather expert, Chad Myers, just a little bit later about how this hurricane season may affect you.

Now I want to pause for just a moment to take a look at --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The space shuttle is an amazing vehicle. The flight through the atmosphere at Mach 25 -- I mean, speeding through the atmosphere like an airplane, land on a runway. It is really, really an incredible ship.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: I wanted to take a look at this -- history. You're watching space shuttle Endeavour as it landed at Kennedy Space Center for the last time this morning. The shuttle returned after a 16-day mission to the International Space Station. Mark Kelly led its 25th and final flight.

Endeavour, which first launched, actually, in 1993 has orbited the Earth 4,671 times. NASA's 30-year space shuttle program will end in July with the final shuttle flight of Atlantis.

It is a drowning that has outraged a community in the San Francisco Bay area. A suicidal man takes his own life as police and firefighters watch and do nothing.

Next, I will talk to the mayor about what changes her city is making now to prevent another tragedy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: City officials in Alameda, California, are reinstating water rescue training after a man drowned Monday as police and firefighters watched. They say their hands were tied because of rules and regulations that prevented them from getting in the water. Raymond Zack's mother says it is just hard to understand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEE BERRY, VICTIM'S MOTHER: It's damn frustrating. That's how --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Alameda Mayor Marie Gilmore joins me now on the telephone to discuss this.

Mayor, I appreciate your time. This is such a tragedy.

In a case like this, what were the city's first responders directed to do? Were they told not to act?

MAYOR MARIE GILMORE, ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA: You know, you are absolutely right. This is just definitely a tragic and horrible incident, and my heart and prayers really go out to the gentleman and his family.

And I have to say, also to everybody, the members of the public who watched this tragic event unfold, and everybody who's rightfully upset by all of this. And, you know, that would also include members of public safety -- you know, the Coast Guard, Alameda police and fire.

KAYE: But the reason these first responders couldn't go in the water -- I just want to be clear here -- is it because they didn't have -- rules and regulations prevented it, but that was due to budget cuts, correct?

GILMORE: Yes. And we have taken immediate steps to change that policy. That has been changed effective immediately. And we have other things that we need to do to put this in place.

We are going to do what we can to support the water rescue program. And what that means is that our firefighters start training next week. And on the city council level, we are going to provide the resources we can to support that program.

But I think the third thing that we have to do, and which is really the most difficult thing, is to restore public confidence in our public safety. And that is going to take some time, but I'm absolutely confident that our police and the fire departments are up to the task.

KAYE: I'd like to also -- if you can, hand your phone over to the fire chief, who I know is with you, Michael D'Orazi.

I would like to ask you, Chief, I'm just curious --

GILMORE: Hang on a second. I will hand the phone over. Hold on just a minute. MICHAEL D'ORAZI, ALAMEDA INTERIM FIRE CHIEF: Hello?

KAYE: Hi, Chief. Thank you.

I just wanted to ask you, how do you feel about what has happened as a result of this? And are you satisfied with the changes?

D'ORAZI: I have to echo the mayor's sentiments on what took place. And right now I feel that we are getting out ahead of this. And I am satisfied that we are going to be able to effect the necessary training quickly to make sure that we can prevent anything like this from happening again.

KAYE: But as I understand it, you relied on the Coast Guard for a couple of years. So were these first responders really not allowed, even in extenuating circumstance, where they are watching a suicidal man drown himself, they were really not allowed to enter that water?

D'ORAZI: First of all, we partnered with the Coast Guard for many years. We have mutual aid agreements with them and work with them closely.

But every emergency situation is different. And you can't just throw a blanket over it and say, this is how we're going to handle it.

Under the circumstances yesterday, they were difficult circumstances. If at some point the incident commander had decided that, hey, we need to get in and do something, I would not have found fault with that after we have had an opportunity to look at all of the circumstances. But again, you know, we have to change -- the policy has been changed, the incident commander will have that discretion, and the training will begin immediately.

KAYE: I'm just curious, though -- I mean, these guys are trained to save people. So how could they watch this happen and not break the rules?

D'ORAZI: Well, believe me, all of the members out there, police and fire, were incredibly frustrated. They are paid to take action, they want to take action.

When we get in situations like this, they don't like to sit back and not be able to do their job. And, you know, unfortunately, the way that the events unfolded on Monday, the situation did not dictate taking those types of actions. But, once again --

KAYE: And how are those first responders doing?

D'ORAZI: You know, we have talked. And, you know, we make sure that we have debriefings with them, and they are frustrated. They're incredibly frustrated.

They are not happy with the situation at all, and they were troubled by the circumstances. And it's my job as the fire chief to make sure that we don't let this happen again. That's what I intend to do.

KAYE: All right.

Mayor Gilmore and Fire Chief D'Orazi, we certainly appreciate you coming on and helping us understand exactly what happened there in the water in Alameda, California. Appreciate your time.

D'ORAZI: Well, thank you for the opportunity.

KAYE: Thank you.

If you need welfare assistance in Florida, first comes a drug test. A new law that has a whole lot of folks outraged, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Twenty minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories.

Human Rights Watch accuses Syrian security forces of killing and torturing hundreds of anti-government protesters. In a 57-page document, the humanitarian watchdog group says the alleged abuses could qualify as crimes against humanity. It says nearly 900 people have been killed since the protests first erupted back in March, with over 400 in the southern province of Daraa alone.

How to reduce the deficit was topic number one today at a meeting at the White House between President Obama and congressional Republicans. Useful, but no progress on the contentious issue, is the way White House Press Secretary Jay Carney described it. For their part, the Republicans said they pressed the president for a detailed plan on budget cuts.

Florida Republican Governor Rick Scott has signed legislation requiring adults applying for welfare assistance to undergo drug tests. Those getting aid would be required to foot the bill for the test. If the test is negative, they'd get their money back. Democratic lawmakers and other opponents denounced the measure as unconstitutional. We'll have a lot more on this in just a few minutes in our "Stream Team" segment.

Today marks the first day of hurricane season. What can we expect in the weeks and months ahead? Severe weather expert Chad Myers joins us just ahead.

But first, for farmers in one southern state, a new gold rush is under way. The gold in this case, sweet potatoes. And sweet potato farmers in North Carolina are enjoying record harvests.

Tom Foreman got a firsthand look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's like watching a magic trick. A tractor rolls over the bare dirt, cutting furrows. A planter drags behind. And there they are, the green shoots of sweet potatoes.

There is no more wonderful sight for Jerome Vick.

JEROME VICK, SWEET POTATO FARMER: One of the (INAUDIBLE) on our farm is (INAUDIBLE), approximately 50 percent of the net farm income on this farm.

FOREMAN: And right now, they are pure gold for many in this state.

SUE LANGDON, NORTH CAROLINA SWEET POTATO COMMISSION: Right here in this field is the capital. North Carolina is the capital of sweet potatoes. Bar none.

FOREMAN: The North Carolina Sweet Potato Commission says this year, about 400 farmers will plant 60,000 acres of sweet potatoes worth about $182 million to the state economy. That's a record.

LANGDON: We grow almost half of the sweet potatoes that are produced in the United States.

FOREMAN: They are selling all over the world. Sweet potato producers are cashing in on the healthy eating craze by aggressively advertising that this Native American plant can help with everything from digestion, to joint pain, to heart disease. That's pushing demand for sweet potato fries, chips and pies.

LANGDON: Currently, about 20 percent of the sweet potatoes produced in North Carolina are being exported. And that looks to rise to even more.

FOREMAN: How much more? Hard to say, but this year, Vick expects to grow enough on his farm to meet the sweet potato needs of four million people.

VICK: You might as well say that we've got four million people eating at our dinner table, which is perfectly all right with me.

FOREMAN: And next year they hope to be breaking records again.

Tom Foreman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Welcome back.

Severe weather expert Chad Myers joining us now.

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAYE: All right. Chad, thank you.

Well, would you want a blind pilot flying your plane? It could happen it turns out. Yes, that's exactly why the FAA is cracking down. The details are next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: It is about half past the hour, and here is a look at the stories that you may have missed. Casey Anthony's brother took the stand on day seven of her murder trial. She is charged with killing her two-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008. Lee Anthony says that in July of that year, the family had not seen Caylee for weeks, and Casey always had a reason why not. Eventually Casey told them that Caylee had been missing for a month and she accused a nanny of taking her. No such nanny was found. Caylee Anthony's remains were found near her grandparent's house in December of '08.

You can now add Illinois to the list of states that allow civil unions, granting same-sex couples many of the rights married couples have. You can see a number of couples here lined up at Cook County clerk's office in Chicago to get their licenses. The law, signed by Governor Pat Quinn earlier this year, goes into effect today, and same-sex couples can have a civil union ceremony one day after receiving the licenses.

The FAA is set to crackdown on people who are pointing lasers into airplane cockpits. Officials are expected to release a plan that imposes civil penalties against violator. The number of pilots reporting being temporarily blinded by lasers nearly doubled last year to more than 2,800. Pointing a laser in an aircraft is illegal in some states, and legislation is pending in Congress to make it a federal crime.

It is a phrase that continues to pop-up. Home prices are on the decline, and many feel a recovery in home prices is a long way off. According to a recent study from RealtyTrac and Trulia, 54 percent of Americans say the housing market won't recover until 2014 or later.

However, if you are thinking about buying a home in this market, there are five things you need to consider. Do you plan to stay in the home more than five years? Is your job secure? Do you have between six to eight months of living expenses saved beyond the down payment? Do you have 10 percent to put down? And finally, is homeownership important to you financially and personally?

If the you answered yes to the questions, it might be the right time to buy. However, you shouldn't feel like you need to should rush into it, because historically, the market has not bounced back overnight.

And before you do anything, make sure you have all your financials are in order. Know your credit score and stay within your budget, and if possible, stay well below what you think you can afford in the event of an emergency.

They are seniors taking on a dangerous job in Japan, but don't call them the suicide corps. Details right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: A group of brave seniors is taking on a very dangerous job in Japan, helping clean up the crippled Fukushima Daiichi power plant. They call themselves "the skilled veterans corps." The prime minister's special advisor is calling them something else, something that many consider downright offensive.

Fionnuala Sweeney is here to talk about that. So, they are going to go in and clean up this plant. What are they being called?

FIONNAULA SWEENEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, essentially one of the government ministers has called them a suicide corps because they are willingly volunteering to go into Fukushima Daiichi plant and clean it up. They say they want to do this because some of them have a lot of experience as engineers in this kind of work and they are also concerned for their younger colleagues and people who are working and risking their lives. And they say that because they are older, radiation will travel far slower throughout their bodies and will affect them less.

But this is not viewed benignly by the government in Japan, and they're very concerned about this group of 250 people who want to go into the Fukushima Daiichi plant.

I should also say that the IEAE nuclear watchdog agency has just been in Japan, and they say that Japan underestimated the strength of the tsunami and that the wall that built around this particular plant, the Fukushima Daiichi plant, was not really high enough or strong enough to cope with the strength of the wave that came in that day after the earthquake.

KAYE: Getting back to these elderly people who are willing to go in there and clean this up. One thing I did read, I thought it was so fascinating that they feel responsibility because they said that they promoted -- because they were older, they promoted these plants and the use of these plants, so they do feel it is their responsibility.

SWEENEY: They feel it is a generational responsibility, because it was after, of course, the Second World War when Japan was very much destroyed that it wanted to rebuild its society using nuclear power. And that really the country was in such a rush to become a modern nation and to rebuild itself and its image. That it is that generation of people who are now elderly who really feel that they, at least these 250 people, feel they are responsible for the fact that nuclear power came into Japan. It is a collective responsibility they feel.

KAYE: And this may hurt Japan's prime minister, right? He is facing a no-confidence vote?

SWEENEY: Indeed. At midnight tonight Eastern time, Japan will begin -- Japanese parliament will begin a no-confidence vote against the prime minister for his handling of this crisis. Remember, the one thing we have not mentioned is that at least 14,000 people died as a result of the earthquake and tsunami, and there's something like 8,000 more missing.

So, this prime minister's handling of the crisis has been called into question despite the IAEA report saying they did everything they could after the earthquake. And really, we may not know for a day or two. And he has some options. He can either -- if he loses the vote, he can call a snap election. And that would really cause more political turmoil in a country that has already suffered a lot.

KAYE: Let's turn to Thailand now, where I geuss it is not a good idea to speak out against the royal family?

SWEENEY: There is a law in Thailand that's known as the Laissez Majesty Law, which basically means that you do not speak ill of the king or any member of the royal family. Now, the king has been ill for some time, and the country is about to go into elections in a month from now.

And what has happened is that a man with duel American/Thai nationality has been arrested. He's a professor. And he on his Web site provided a link to a book on the king called "The King Never Smiles," that's been banned in Thailand. And as a result, the military arrested him.

And there is a concern up to the run-up to the election in Thailand that there is a tightening of democracy to put it very mildly that people like this person can be arrested. He, who goes by his American name Joe Gordon, has appealed to President Obama for help.

KAYE: So what might happen to him?

SWEENEY: Well, at the moment, this isn't the first time that there has been a case like this in Thailand, and it highlights in many ways his arrest what has happened to other people who have spoken ill of the king and his increasing concern about the use of this law in the run-up to the election.

So, really, again, it is all about democracy, the strength of the democracy. Thailand has been through very tough times, so we will have to see how the rule of law is applied in Thailand to this man and we also have to see what pressure, if any, America can apply to the government and to the military who arrested him.

KAYE: Very interesting case. All right. Fionnuala Sweeney, thank you for the updates on all of that.

The connection between your medicine cabinet and drug dealers? What is it? We will explain, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Here is a look right now at the markets. Stocks are plunging after two disappointing reports about employment and manufacturing. Take a look at the Dow there, down 238 points. Just a little -- oh, now, 241 points. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ are also down. We have been seeing the signs over the past few weeks that the economic recovery is stalling. Clearly, investors responding to those fears.

Drug dealers are cashing in on an increasingly disturbing but lucrative business of high-end drugs. We are talking about widely prescribed painkillers and anxiety and depression drugs. CNNmoney's Poppy Harlow joins me now to go in depth about the street value of what is inside of your medicine cabinet. Poppy, this is very interesting. What have you learned?

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Yes, it's unbelievable when you look at just what this , industry has become. Experts say it's a billion- dollar industry. That's the illicit sale of prescription drugs on the streets of big cities like New York, L.A., Chicago, Miami, etc. a across the country.

No longer is pot considered the gateway drug. Now it is the prescription drugs, Randi. The abuse of prescription drugs simly the biggest drug problem in this country right now.

I want you to look at these numbers. It is pretty astonishing. Look at Oxycontin, Oxycodone, hydrocodone, three of the most popular on the street. And one pill of Oxycontin, that heavy opiate, that painkiller, $50 to $80 is what it's going for right now. If you buy it legally through the pharmacy, it's about six dollars. So, now you see why the gangs are joining this trend and selling more prescription drugs than they are selling traditional narcotics. Take a look at two more popular ones. Percocet, Vicodin, same story there, marked up incredibly when you look at the street.

Now, what we found out is that kids increasingly, kids and teens are using these drugs. They think it is safe because their parents take these drugs as they are prescribed. But there is one drug called sextasy that we're seeing more and more of at parties. And we got inside the L.A. County sheriff's department. He showed us different bags of drugs he bought off Craigslist, got off the street.

And I want you to take a listen to this drug, sextacy, that he said is incredibly dangerous for kids right now. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

We see combinations of Ectascy and Viagra quite often. They call that sextacy. The big rave parties, the kids will take the because the ecstasy will lower your inhibitions but may also cause erectile dysfunction among even young males. So, they will then take the Viagara to counteract the ecstasy, so it is very common among the young people, not necessarily older men.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: And Randi, we could not show his face because he is obviously on the street trying to break up the sale of these drugs. But just to give you a sense of who is taking these drugs, everything from people on Skid Row paying $20 for a pill of Oxycontin to $80 you have celebrities, they tell us and wealthier people paying $80 a pill for the same medication in a place like Hollywood or the wealthier areas, Randi.

KAYE: So why is it, Poppy, becoming such a big problem? I mean, it is not just the young, but the elderly falling victim to it? HARLOW: Yes, the elderly are. The young as I said before, the kids think they are safer than say, cocaine or heroin because they are prescribed, right? Obviously not the case.

But also the elderly are really falling victim to this. What is happening is that a lot of these traffickers are actually going to elderly people across this country that are in need of cash and say, all right, I will pay you cash for your monthly Medicare prescription to these drugs. So, the elderly are getting the drugs from the pharmacy, selling them on to the black market.

You also have a big counterfeit problem, Randi. What they told us that 99 percent of the drugs that are counterfeit, not through the big drug makers, are actually coming in from China. They break down the formula, they make them in China, they bring them to this country. They sell them on the black market. And police also told us in L.A. they don't have the resources, the money to go out and hunt these people down, so they are going off tips at this point.

But a billion-dollar business, Randi. And we will take you inside with the LAPD. We can show you there. It's on CNNmoney.com if you want to se more of that video.

KAYE: OK. Poppy Harlow, interesting stuff. Thank you.

Should Americans have to pass a drug test to be eligible for welfare benefits? The "Stream Team" will tackle that topic right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: There is a movement across the country to require recipients to require recipients of public assistance to pass a drug test before receiving money from the government. Twenty-seven U.S. states -- we are talking more than half of the states in the country are considering some type of drug test legislation. Although the details vary from state to state, and you cannot stereotype, it turns out, by region. States as red as Arizona and Georgia and as blue as New York and California are considering this type of legislation.

So, the question for our Stream Team today is this: should states require drug tests in exchange for public assistance? Lisa Bloom is an attorney and author of "Think: Straight Talk For Women To Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World." And Mark Skoda is the founder and chairman of the Memphis Tea Party.

Welcome to you both. Mark, I want to start with you. A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study that found that fewer than 10 percent of people living in households receiving government assistance were using illicit drugs compared to 6.8 percent of people in homes with no assistance. So, is that really enough reason to use state resources on drug tests?

MARK SKODA, FOUNDER/CHAIRMAN, MEMPHIS TEA PARTY: Well, look, I think it is problematic from a privacy point of view. However, let me say this. When I was driving tractor trailers in the transportation industry, drug testing was standard. Was required to have the job. It was required to get a paycheck. This is still standard practice in many of the industries today.

So, in the context, I understand that the challenge particularly with assistance in many of the states. I'm not opposed to this type of legislation and certainly as a practice to get your paycheck, if you will, you are required to pass a drug test. No different that many private-sector jobs.

KAYE: And Lisa, want to bring you in. In 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that suspicion-less searches, like many drug tests, violate Fourth Amendment rights, unless those tests are conducted for specific tests like public safety. So, will legislation like this be struck down anyway?

LISA BLOOM, ATTORNEY: I think it will. There is a big difference between drug testing truck drivers or air traffic controllers where there is a clear public safety interest, and drug testing people who are simply vulnerable and down on their luck, as most welfare recipients are.

I mean, when we're talking about cutting people off of welfare, we're talking about the difference between food and hunger, the difference between having a home to live in and being homeless. And why? I mean, there is no rational relationship between the drug test and welfare recipients. So, I think it will be struck down because the courts will require that relationship.

KAYE: And Mark, I want to bring this up, because the people - the potential welfare recipients, they have to take the drug tests, and that money comes out of their own pocket. Now, if that test is negative, the taxpayer actually reimburses them for that test. What are your thoughts on that?

SKODA: Well, again, state by state, they are going to implement their own laws. I think it is exactly the practice I think that the states have the right to do.

Now, look, I'm not totally comfortable with drug testing every welfare recipient for the reasons that just were cited. I think at the end of the day, however, that states given their conditions - when we look at reporting such as we had in California where, you know, unemployment and welfare benefits were $15 million to attend -- using their cars to attend casinos.

I mean, if the state views this as a problem and the people of the state choose to take this type of action, then quite frankly, I'm supportive of those states' rights.

KAYE: Lisa, can this even work without drug treatment and counseling? I mean, is that a better way to go?

BLOOM: That's really the problem, Randi, is that drug treatment centers in this country are swamped. Many people with the disease of drug addiction -- and it is a disease -- can't get the help. And to me, this is so harshly punitive against our most vulnerable. How we treat the most vulnerable among us is how we should be judged. To cut off welfare, to cut off the option to buy food, to buy housing, to support one's own children -- and by the way, children will suffer here if their parents take drugs. It is just harshly cruel in my view, and very misguided. And frankly I would think that people on the right, such as people in the Tea Party would want to uphold values like American liberty and not have the state come in and test people when there isn't even a reasonable suspicion that they have done anything wrong.

This is a highly intrusive search of the human body, being forced to give your urine, give your blood to the state, simply because the state wants to know what you have been doing in the privacy of your own home.

KAYE: All right. Lisa and Mark, we will leave it there. Thank you both very much.

BLOOM: Thank you.

KAYE: Florida governor Rick Scott signed legislation allowing the drug testing of welfare recipients. And the governor will be a guest on CNN in the next hour. Be sure to catch his interview with T.J. Holmes coming up in the 3:00 hour.

And time now for the a CNN Political Update. CNN senior political editor Mark Preston, joining me now from Washington. Mark, you have new CNN polling on how Americans are feeling about the country today.

MARK PRESTON, CNNS SENIOR POLTICAL EDTIRO: Yes, we do, Randi. This is from the new CNN/ Opinion Research poll just released this week. We asked Americans, how do you think things are going in the country? And we should not be too surprised that -- look at this, 39 percent of Americans say things are not going - only 39 said percent things are going well, while 60 percent say things are going badly.

As we talk about politics, this not a very good number for the Democrats. We're talking about 18 months before the presidential election, 18 months before Democrats try to take back the control of the House of Representatives, and you have 6 in 10 Americans saying that things are not going well. So, not very good news for the Democrats.

Now, what they have going on their side is time. They have some time to make up and try to se if the economy will turn around. But if the election were held today, things would not look too good for Democrats. Randi?

KAYE: All right, Mark. Thank you very much.

And we will be right back with my "XYZ."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Time now for my "XYZ." Officials in Alameda, California, have made a lifesaving policy change after fire crews and police stood by and watched a suicidal man drown before their eyes. They did nothing. Why? Because of budgetary cuts.

For the last two years, the city of Alameda has relied on the U.S. Coast Guard for water rescues. The city's boat and land-based water rescues were shut down to save money. The 53-year-old man was about 150 yards off shore. The Coast Guard helicopter was delayed by another call, so there was nothing that the city's first responders could actually do. The firefighters followed department policy, which is to stay out of the water. They even relied on a volunteer in the end to recover the man's body from the ocean.

Well, last night, the city quickly changed the policy. The rescue program will be reinstated and the city will spend the $20,000 to $40,000 to certify 16 firefighters in land-based water rescue tactics. That's great. But just imagine how frustrating this all is for the victim's family now that they know how easy it was in the end to find the money to keep that program alive.

CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with T.J. Holmes in for Brooke Baldwin.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: That story was just a shock. You couldn't believe it when you heard it, and then the reasoning for it did not make a whole lot of sense.

We will talk about that in just a second. We will have a couple of witnesses on the beach as well.

Randi, we appreciate you and good to see you always.