BY MARY MITCHELL marym@suntimes.com Jun 2, 2011 02:12AM

Maybe there are a few old folks living in CHA’s senior buildings that are still smoking crack and snorting cocaine.

It wouldn’t surprise me.

If seniors who have 401(k)s, pensions, IRAs and big houses in Florida are whining about how tough things are while they knock back cocktails, then seniors who didn’t have anything in the first place must really be depressed.

Don’t get me wrong.

Illegal drugs are bad.

But I’ve got an 84-year-old mother who is taking a satchel full of drugs doctors have prescribed for all sorts of ailments — real and imagined.

She lives in a senior building in another city and state, so I think I have a good idea what she would say about CHA’s proposed plan to drug test every senior living in public housing.

“No, Lordy,” she’d say, her face contorted with worry.

She has lived long past the time that a drink or an illegal substance could dull regrets.

But every time “the management” wants to do something, I hear it.

“Oh Lord, now they’ve got to spray.”

“Oh Lord, I’ve got to move everything because now they want to paint.”

“Oh Lord, They’re coming to inspect.”

If she lived with a family member, she wouldn’t have to deal with any of this.

But for many seniors, the loss of independence really is the nail in the coffin.

Still, there is something embarrassingly undignified about asking seniors to submit to drug testing in order to remain in senior housing.

To be clear, seniors are not being singled out for this extra scrutiny. Under the proposal, 16,000 families living in public housing would have to be drug tested.

“The feedback that we are getting is there are a lot of complaints and concerns about drugs and heavy traffic around the first of the month,” said CHA CEO Lewis Jordan. “Our data and intelligence tells us this is not just a problem among our residents.”

CHA will host a public forum at 6 tonight at the Charles A. Hayes Center, 4859 S. Wabash, to hear what public housing residents have to say about the proposal.

“We are trying to create an environment of safety,” Jordan told me. “This is not about throwing people out.”

If a person tests positive for drugs, he or she would be offered an opportunity to go through a rehabilitation process. Those who are unwilling or unable to enter a substance abuse program, however, would face eviction.

Jordan was clear that the proposal is not yet carved in stone.

“We may recommend to the board to do random testing, or not to do it at all or to do it full scale,” he said.

So here are a few things CHA should think about before establishing a drug-testing policy that includes seniors.

1) Can we just leave old people alone? I’m not saying seniors should be able to rob banks and steal cars or anything. But if some lonely old grandpa or grandma wants to smoke a joint, whose business is it, really.

2) Alleged drug dealers aren’t the only people who know when the first of the month rolls around. On the first of the month, local casinos will pick up seniors by the busload, treat them to a free buffet and send them home broke — and sober. No one complains about that.

3) Because the average senior takes a lot of medication, it is much more likely that the drug test will result in a false positive. What then? Asking seniors to then identify all the medications they are taking is a huge invasion of privacy.

4) Sending a senior citizen to rehab to kick a drug habit is a ridiculous waste of money. If grandma and grandpa are still doing drugs, then let providence sort it all out.

5) Finally, if security guards and residents know who the drug abusers are, then CHA should target the abusers and give the law-abiding, church-going, Wheel of Fortune-watching seniors a break.

Because here is the bottom line: By the time you qualify for senior housing, you have paid your dues. Impoverished seniors don’t have much left. Let them keep some dignity.

one day that will b us