Aus - Welfare drug testing won't work: Former Police Commissioner

[poledriver]

Welfare drug testing won't work: Former Police Commissioner

The Senate is set to debate the Turnbull Government's proposal to begin drug testing of welfare recipients.

The Government wants to begin trials of 5,000 new welfare recipients across three separate locations from January next year.

Labor and the Greens are firmly opposed to the plan meaning the Coalition will have to rely on the support of the Senate crossbench.

Under the plan, welfare recipients who test positive to cannabis, ice or ecstasy will have 80 per cent of their welfare payment put onto a 'cashless' debit card.

A second positive test would see the welfare recipient charged for the cost of the test, and referred for drug treatment.

With audio -

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/welfare-drug-testing-wont-work/8936678

 

[poledriver]

Welfare drug testing punishes those 'least able to change', former AFP commissioner says

Mick Palmer says Coalition’s plan would damage people who were hanging on to life ‘by the skin of their teeth’ already

The former Australian federal police commissioner Mick Palmer has warned a plan to drug test welfare recipients will harm Australia’s most vulnerable.

“All of my experience tells me that this won’t work,” Palmer told the ABC on Wednesday.

“Really what it will do is create more damage, and most damage and most harm to those people who are most vulnerable and most in need of support and protection, which was my experience when we first responded to the tough on drugs policies under former prime minister John Howard.”

The damning indictment comes as the Senate prepares to debate the measure – part of a broader welfare system overhaul – on Wednesday.

The trial involved drug testing 5,000 welfare recipients at three trial sites in south-western Sydney, Mandurah in Western Australia and Logan in Queensland.

Those who fail will first be placed on income management. A second failed test would see the individual referred for treatment and forced to cover the costs of their tests. If they fail to engage in treatment, they risk financial punishment, including the loss of welfare.

A broad range of experts and frontline drug workers have condemned the plan. They say taking a punitive approach to addiction – a health issue – has failed in the past.

Experts have also warned it will drive vulnerable people away from the welfare system to avoid testing, increasing the risk of homelessness and crime.

The head of the largest youth drug treatment program, Matt Noffs, said the approach takes Australia’s drug policy back decades, to the Reagan-era “just say no” approach to drugs. He said it would lead more people into drug dealing to support their addiction.

“That’s why this is a stupid, stupid idea that is not based on evidence but is based on someone not looking at the literature and pretending they have the answers,” Noffs said last month.

Palmer aired similar concerns. He said those who would be hurt the most were people with serious, rather than social, drug use problems. That was a group who had significant co-morbidities, including mental health issues, a history of abuse, or homelessness.

Cont -

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...t-able-to-change-former-afp-commissioner-says

 

[Mmp85]

The states that have tried it in the US spent more on the testing than they did on giving benefits to the small percent that tested positive. It still gets brought up pretty frequently but so far evidence shows it's a waste of money.