Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients Is Stupid

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I realize this post is a couple years old but I am doing a speech for a communications class on this topic and stumbled upon it while doing research (which I highly suggest you do if you still feel this way).
The point is, it gives people with drug and alcohol addiction another reason to come clean. It gives them a choice they may not of otherwise been forced to make. It also has the potential to save tax payers money because some drug and alcohol users would rather not submit to a test and would instead look for viable income to support there habits instead of us doing it for them. We already poor millions of dollars a year into recovery programs, can you spare another $400/ month to support my habits? Don't be so naive to think your not already paying for it though, because you are...we all are.
Drug testing for state assistance isn't about throwing people into our already over crowded jails, its about insuring the money is being put to good use. In fact. Not once did I see an article that indicated those who came up positive would be subject to jail time, instead they would be suspended from any and all assistance they're receiving until they agreed to and fulfilled some sort of recovery program. As part of that program they would also be subject to further testing to insure they remained clean for the duration of their assistance.
Not that this matters but I was a drug addict for several years, after that I drank myself under that table for 2 years straight while trying to cope with a divorce. I was also on welfare during most of this. I understand dependency but more importantly I understand myself and had I been subject to any form of testing to receive the assistance I was getting, I would have came clean alot faster. I realize not everyone shares my way of thinking and my priorities however, I do have hope that there are MANY out there that do. I strongly believe drug testing would be a positive thing for our Nation and its people.

Leo of ID 3:18PM November 23, 2011

i have to agree with Bonnie's thinking on this. something i've wondered, how is the cost to implement drug testing justified? the test, the paperwork, the additional employees, the monitored bathrooms, the guards who strip search the welfare recipient before entering bathroom, (he may have a container of someone else's urine hidden up his butt) the childcare workers to watch their children while they give their urine sample, the person who runs the test on the sample or if it's sent out then there is a courier, etc. and of course we have to get slips on file from doctors for the people who have prescriptions for the medications that are on the test, i.e. amphetamines, opiates, benzodiazepines and in some cases marijuana as well as the drugs that can cause false positives.. more paperwork. so what if someone is positive and doesn't have a medical condition? what then? withhold benefits? what if they have children? or send the recipient to a treatment center? yep those usually work, drug addicts are estimated to relapse at a rate of about 80%. all this money to make every recipient submit to urine testing (and how often anyway?) does welfare really give people enough money to support a drug habit? or are most welfare recipients still living below the US dept of health and human services poverty guidelines?

sbelen of MI 11:06PM November 10, 2011

If your on welfare AND using drugs..you call that functioning???

Kathy J Armada of OH 9:52PM October 14, 2011

Why should those people have more rights than I do as an honest person working full time. I don't do drugs, nor have I ever. Why should people who have to actually work for their money be subject to drug testing to keep their job,but people receiving free money from the state..who most can get a job doing something they just choose not to because they are too lazy don't have to.I don't think that the tax dollars of the hard working people should get to be blown on drugs. That money is meant for people to survive..not to buy tattoos, cigarettes, lottery tickets or alcohol. If you want those things than get a damn job..I am not going to work today to pay for someones drugs..or disgusting tattoo..especially when they should be at home with the children I am sure they have that they are neglecting.

Lila of MN 11:51AM October 07, 2011

I'm an honest person who has never done an illegal, un-prescribed drug in my life but I don't get assistance even though I make minimum wage. My brother, however, does drugs & gets full assistance and was even admitted into "transitional housing" that pays for his rent, utilities and even gave him a phone. Thanks, OHIO, for making me, an honest tax-paying resident, feel worthless <3

ANGELICA of OH 11:41AM October 05, 2011

You want my money (tax dollars) then you do what I have toto get my job. Drug testing. Lady, you need to work a drive through at any pharmacy in the US. In one day you'll change your tune. When the first entitled cigarette smoking, tattooed, 40 in a bag, have my nails done, dripping in tacky gold jewelry with 4 children in the 1-2 yr old car with rims, reeking of pot yells at you because they can't get their painkiller for free ("why I gotta pay a dolla!!!") - while you work your tail off and can't afford your health insurance or replace your 10 year old car... You'll change your ridiculous tune

Dineane of NC 9:54AM September 24, 2011

Anyone who has a problem with it is probably getting high. It makes perfect sense. At least 30% of available jobs drug test prior to employment and post employment. IF you're unemployed, thats 30 percent less jobs you can apply for. I am so sick of people saying pot is not a drug. Put the damn bong down long enough to realize that it affects the reward pathways in teh brain, specifically the Nucleus Acumbens which is responsible for stimulating the release of dopamine and seratonin into the brain. These are the feel good drugs, the drugs that pot imitates. Dopamine gives a pleasent feeling or feeling of success, seratonin gives you a realxed, antianxiety feel. Same as the two different strains of pot (indica and sativa). A person becomes addicted to pot when they depend on pot for their seratonin and dopamine after the body stops producing it because the pothead is taking it in from an outside source. This leads to A-motivational syndrome where the persons main motivation is to seek more pot. NOT A JOB!!! And this is just pot. I wouln't even go into crack, coke, amphetamines etc. Drugs shoudl not be used by people recieving tax dollars. PEriod! I have to pee in a cup randomly at my work. I like that fact, why? Becuse it eliminates lazy unmotivated people who would misrepresent my organization becasue they are high or wishing they were high and watching the clock for 5:00 so they can go hit the bong.
Before anyone jumps on me for treating pot like a drug. I am a cancer survivor, used it for two weeks while going through radiation TX. It worked, but it also made me dumber than dirt. I also follwed the dead in the 80's and smoked plenty of it in my youth, to the point of it de-motivating me to do anything other than smoke weed and follow the dead, which I lost interest in becasue it took too much work, so I ended up listening to dead tapes in my buddys atic while getting high. LOOSER!!!
The country is in sever debt. I pay an ass load of taxes every year and I don't want some fkn pothead or junky getting a free ride of my money while they sit on their ass and do nothing!
Anyone who argues that "they deserve it" is a complete idiot and a totla looser. No one deserves anything. You earn what you get. I am veteran and I don't feel my country owes me anything. Nor does tax payers. Get over it you fkn whiners. Call a Waaaambulence already. Get off your drugy ass and find a job!

Dave of PA 12:18PM September 08, 2011

This seems to be a huge waste of time, resources, and money. That's what it all comes down to anyway isn't it? Money. It costs money to drug test these people. Aren't we already spending enough giving them money in the first place? Why is everybody so eager to drug test people welfare? Isn't their life already crappy enough? All the drugs that string you out only have a 3 day presence in your body anyway. Why persecute pot? It's far less harmful than prescription drugs. Our government has bigger problems to stress. This is a fail.

John of MS 1:00PM August 25, 2011

Some folks say "the children will suffer". This is kind of funny. The rationale there seems to be that if we cut the benefits for people who fail the drug test, the children won't get the benefits that they weren't getting in the first place because it was all being spent on drugs.
As far as jails, I wouldn't put them in jails, I'd just sentenence them to a period of ineligibility. If they attempt to obtain benefits during that period, tack on another 6 months or a year of ineligibility.
Unconstitutional? No one thought it was unconstitutional when employers began requiring drug testing of applicants.
Make taxpayers responsible for rehab costs? The users didn't seem to need any help getting on drugs in the first place.
Bottom Line: choices have consequences...make your choices and live with them

gman4691 of TX 4:52PM August 20, 2011

Nobody has forced anybody to not study in school. Its not my fault that your job sucks and you have 3 children that you popped out even though you could not afford them. The last time I checked everything that I own I worked my ass off for and didn't get any handout from the government. I started off at mcdonalds as a cashier and now work at novartis making around 40k. Its nothing amazing but the fact is I never needed a check in the mail from my government a.k.a. the taxpayers (I.e. myself, and everyone else who does their job in this country). I think the very least you could do is stick to booze and at least pretend like you are trying to change your life. I like to smoke weed just as much as everyone else but I buy it with money that I earn. Not money the government foolishly hands me because I tell them "well my lives been too hard to get off my lazy ass and do something with it". And who cares if they become homeless. If they are taking their food stamps and welfare checks to buy drugs then why am I the one that is forced to supply them with the money? I don't even have a choice in the matter. Its just taken out of my check every month and given to a good for nothing crackhead who would just as easily trade his childs food for his next fix. This would be one of the most intelligent things the u.s. has ever done. And for those who say the drug tests would cost too much, it wouldn't cost nearly as much as keeping them on welfare for the rest of their life.

mitch of NE 2:45PM July 26, 2011