MOUNT VERNON, Ind. - A southwestern Indiana township has begun giving drug tests to applicants for emergency assistance and denying aid for positive results.

The Evansville Courier & Press reported Sunday that Black Township in Posey County is the first Indiana township to screen all applicants for emergency township assistance for drugs.

Black Township Trustee Lindsay Suits says about 30 percent of tests have come back positive in the first three weeks of the program.

She says anyone who tests positive can reapply for assistance if they participate in substance abuse treatment. Suits says she'll consider having the township pay the cost of participation, but so far no one has agreed to enter rehab.

Indiana isn't among seven states that require welfare applicants to have drug screens.