Should welfare recipients be drug tested?

[Chris OConnor]

Should welfare recipients be drug tested?

I saw this question over at Debate.org and thought I'd see what you guys have to say. Please vote and then add an explanation as to why you are either for or against drug testing welfare recipients.

[DWill]

I see blanket drug testing for TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients as too intrusive. I read that in some states a requirement for testing has been challenged as unconstitutional. If there is reason to suspect drug/alcohol abuse, I wouldn't object to testing. However, in states where recreational use of marijuana is legal, throwing people off TANF for having indulged doesn't really make sense. Although it's absurd to condone welfare recipients using their government money to buy weed or any drug, including alcohol, a positive test only shows they've used.

We need to have programs to help TANF people get jobs that pay living wages, or at least give them the prospect of earning more than minimum wage if they persevere. Families can't make it on $7.25 per hour. In general, TANF means there is only one wage earner in the family. TANF doesn't last indefinitely, either; I think all states must place limits on the length of time that benefits are received.

Bill Clinton made welfare a much less easy ride with his reforms during his first term.

[LanDroid]

IIRC - without googling - at least two states have tried drug testing welfare recipients (Florida & Wisconsin?). The hit rate if you will was something like 0.2% which translates to a large waste of money.

- Most people who receive welfare actually work. Probably a significant portion of those employers require drug testing.
- If you kick folks off welfare for a positive drug result, where do they go?
- Check out the following article.

A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America
The UN’s Philip Alston is an expert on deprivation – and he wants to know why 41m Americans are living in poverty. The Guardian joined him on a special two-week mission into the dark heart of the world’s richest nation

So begins a two-week journey into the dark side of the American Dream. The spotlight of the UN monitor, an independent arbiter of human rights standards across the globe, has fallen on this occasion on the US, culminating on Friday with the release of his initial report in Washington. His fact-finding mission into the richest nation the world has ever known has led him to investigate the tragedy at its core: the 41 million people who officially live in poverty. Of those, nine million have zero cash income – they do not receive a cent in sustenance.

Alston’s epic journey has taken him from coast to coast, deprivation to deprivation. Starting in LA and San Francisco, sweeping through the Deep South, traveling on to the colonial stain of Puerto Rico then back to the stricken coal country of West Virginia, he has explored the collateral damage of America’s reliance on private enterprise to the exclusion of public help.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... rapporteur

Here's a 4.5 minute interview with Philip Alston, the United Nations' special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. Aired today.
https://www.npr.org/2017/12/15/57119994 ... vulnerable

[Robert Tulip]

There are better ways to reduce illegal drug use than a punitive drug test regime targeted at the poor.

Australia is trialling a cashless debit card that can be used for essential goods but not to get cash, alcohol or gambling.

And sewerage tests reveal the location and scale of drug use.

There are already far too many people in jail in the USA, and kicking people off welfare tends to increase crime and imprisonment, I suspect, with overall much more negative impact than drug use. There are overall better ways to reduce drug use among the poor than a welfare crackdown.

[KindaSkolarly]

If recipients of public money are to be tested, then we should start with politicians.

[DB Roy]

Drug testing welfare recipients lays into the stereotype that people on welfare are all drug-addled cheaters too lazy to work. The result, that they've netted virtually no one in these stings disproves the stereotype and that bothers the conservatives way more than these people doing drugs.

[Under_Taker]

Don't drug test them make them get out and find a damn job is what I say!

[Interbane]

Most people on welfare have a job.

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-hig ... low-wages/

[Under_Taker]

Most people on welfare have a job.

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/the-hig ... low-wages/

Well then they don't need it do they...Wasting tax money.

[Interbane]

Well then they don't need it do they...Wasting tax money.

It usually depends on where you live. In most places, you can't afford basic necessities while making minimum wage. You would have to sacrifice food, shelter, clothing, or some other basic necessity.

http://livingwage.mit.edu/articles/15-m ... live-on-it

Imagine working 40 hours per week and being unable to afford shoes for your kids. I don't see this as an issue of failed personal responsiblity. I see it as a subfunctional system. It's systemic, so there's no easy solution.