An inane, money-eating sham: Drug tests for welfare a huge failure

slimvictor

slimvictor

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"Darkness cannot be dissipated with more darkness.
Drug tests for welfare is a huge waste. But if we’re testing those getting taxpayer money, how about politicians?

BY BRIAN P. KELLY


Plenty of politicians have been guilty of flip-flopping, but if there’s one idea to which many hold, it’s that people on welfare are a bunch of lazy drug addicts. Most recently, the House approved an amendment to the Farm Bill that allows states to drug test those receiving food stamps, with the notion that this would save money and waste by preventing recipients from using the assistance on illegal substances.

If we’re curious about how drug testing programs work out, we have plenty of test cases, and the data is in. The verdict: plans like these are inane, wasteful, and discriminatory.

During the past year, the state of Utah has spent over $30,000 giving drug tests to welfare recipients. In that time period, only 2.6 percent of those tested were found to have used illegal substances — well below the national use rate of 8.9 percent. As in all eight states where drug tests are used to determine eligibility for government assistance, specifically Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Utah’s program was allegedly initiated on the grounds of saving the state money.

However, across the board these programs fail to do so — and that’s not even their biggest problem.

In 2009, Arizona was the first state to adopt a program that drug-tested recipients of welfare whom officials had “reasonable cause” to believe were using drugs. Besides stigmatizing recipients of government assistance, implying that they’re a group of no-good drug fiends, the bill was implemented to try rand resuscitate a failing budget, and Arizona officials believed that testing could save the state $1.7 million a year.

But in 2012, three years and 87,000 screenings later, only one person had failed a drug test. Total savings from denying that one person benefits? $560. Total benefits paid out in that time? $200 million. Even if we include the savings from cutting benefits to the 1,633 people who didn’t return the pre-test survey, it brings the total to only 0.1 percent of the amount distributed over that period.

cont at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPJiBRKu19U&list=PLvUPkjPcv9_PgFJNX2LAgptyXvZEXMn63
 
also from the article

The logic behind extant drug testing laws goes something like this: Taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to buy illegal drugs. People collecting welfare receive taxpayer money. Some of these people use illegal drugs. Therefore, we should test them in order to stop giving taxpayer money to those who use illegal drugs.

It’s true, people on welfare use drugs. But so do people from every socioeconomic level. People on welfare also receive taxpayer money. But so do people from every socioeconomic level. If the goal is to stop people from potentially using taxpayer money to purchase illegal substances then we should apply these programs to every person receiving government funds. That means testing students who receive government scholarships, laboratories receiving government research grants, and farmers receiving farm subsidies. It means testing veterans, police officers and firefighters. It means testing the employees of the companies that administer the tests. And it most certainly means testing politicians, from the governor all the way down to city council members.
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I'm against anyone being randomly drug tested for anything anywhere, but, as I've said in previous threads, anybody who's hung out with people who get government checks, and anyone who's dealt drugs in poor neighborhoods in the US knows that once the first of the month rolls around, business skyrockets. In Miami, the monthly plume of crack smoke is visible from space.

Once again I present this song:

 
I wonder what is "reasonable cause" to suspect a welfare recipient is using drugs in AZ and therefore needs to be tested...I also don't agree with the drug testing of a group such as this as it does lead to discriminatory practices and rather than say well we don't won't people using tax payer monies to buy drugs how bout if you want to be real let's say hey, if you can't afford to buy your kids food and support your family, fine, understandable, shit happens. But if you can't afford to feed your family then you don't have money to be buying drugs! I have a friend that constantly needs to borrow money...she sells her food stamps so that she can buy her son pot (who is a lazy 21 year old with no job who lives off of mom). She wants to borrow from me, my 21 year old goes to school full time and works 2 jobs. So I should take money from him who works his ass off and buy her son pot while he is rewarded for being lazy? Nope.
 
Something seems a little off about the numbers in this article. Where I'm from, the drug dealers can't wait for the first of the month because that's the day they make the most money....Why, because that's the day that the food-stamps and welfare cash kicks in. The state did a huge sting operation and 20 something people were arrested for either buying food stamp cards or using their benefits illegally. I don't believe that most welfare recipients should be tested and penalized but drug-abuse in impoverished inner-city areas is entrenched and rampant, as is abuse of the food stamp and welfare system.

I don't think cutting everyone off and treating them like criminals is appropriate, but some oversight is necessary. Welfare is essentially "free money" that comes from the taxes collected from those who work. It would be foolish to just hand out money to whomever asks for it, no questions asked!

And as much as I dislike law-enforcement and think there needs to be major reforms that hold the police more accountable to the communities they "serve", including drug testing(if ever there were people who should be drug tested it's the police), the major difference between welfare recipients and the police and other tax-payer funded jobs is that the police are actually working a job! I don't agree with a lot of what they do, but they are necessary..

I'm a very compassionate open-minded person that believes that we all have a responsibility to help the less fortunate, especially children, but I've seen first hand how widely abused the food-stamp and welfare system is. Anyone who thinks that able-bodied people should be able to use drugs, continue to have children they have no way of supporting and ask the state to furnish all their needs without any oversight is incredibly naïve....It's this very type of thinking that's what encourages abuse in the first place! And being a drug user who's spent a lot of time in the inner-city around other drug users may have skewed my perspective on what the "typical welfare recipient" looks like, but in the population I've witnessed, the majority of them use drugs. There's a lot of elderly and disabled that receive assistance and maybe that makes up a bigger portion of the overall number than it seems...

I know I'll catch a lot of heat for saying this, but I'm really curious as to how everyone else honestly feels about this issue?
 
There are a lot of ppl who have just gotten fucked by mass layoffs and difficult job environment, maybe they turn to drugs to help cope, should they get banned from getting food stamps and gov assistance? Hell no. Ppl that are life long addicts with long rap sheets who are habitual mooches that are just looking for a free ride and have no desire to work or find a job, should they be denied if they test pos for drugs, yes. Yea you can say where do you draw the line, but it should be case by case. Just like unemployment makes you look for work and apply for however many jobs a week, these bottom feeders should have to do something to better themselves. If they dont give a fuck, why should anyone give a fuck about them?
 
BlueHues said:
Something seems a little off about the numbers in this article. Where I'm from, the drug dealers can't wait for the first of the month because that's the day they make the most money....Why, because that's the day that the food-stamps and welfare cash kicks in. The state did a huge sting operation and 20 something people were arrested for either buying food stamp cards or using their benefits illegally. I don't believe that most welfare recipients should be tested and penalized but drug-abuse in impoverished inner-city areas is entrenched and rampant, as is abuse of the food stamp and welfare system.

I don't think cutting everyone off and treating them like criminals is appropriate, but some oversight is necessary. Welfare is essentially "free money" that comes from the taxes collected from those who work. It would be foolish to just hand out money to whomever asks for it, no questions asked!

And as much as I dislike law-enforcement and think there needs to be major reforms that hold the police more accountable to the communities they "serve", including drug testing(if ever there were people who should be drug tested it's the police), the major difference between welfare recipients and the police and other tax-payer funded jobs is that the police are actually working a job! I don't agree with a lot of what they do, but they are necessary..

I'm a very compassionate open-minded person that believes that we all have a responsibility to help the less fortunate, especially children, but I've seen first hand how widely abused the food-stamp and welfare system is. Anyone who thinks that able-bodied people should be able to use drugs, continue to have children they have no way of supporting and ask the state to furnish all their needs without any oversight is incredibly naïve....It's this very type of thinking that's what encourages abuse in the first place! And being a drug user who's spent a lot of time in the inner-city around other drug users may have skewed my perspective on what the "typical welfare recipient" looks like, but in the population I've witnessed, the majority of them use drugs. There's a lot of elderly and disabled that receive assistance and maybe that makes up a bigger portion of the overall number than it seems...

I know I'll catch a lot of heat for saying this, but I'm really curious as to how everyone else honestly feels about this issue?
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I am in agreement with you. This was pretty much what I was saying also (or attempting to say...too tired to make my point as well as you did). I am also compassionate but like I said its not really fair. But I'm not sure where you draw the line either.
 
'medicine cabinet' said:
Ppl that are life long addicts with long rap sheets who are habitual mooches that are just looking for a free ride and have no desire to work or find a job, should they be denied if they test pos for drugs, yes. Yea you can say where do you draw the line, but it should be case by case. Just like unemployment makes you look for work and apply for however many jobs a week, these bottom feeders should have to do something to better themselves. If they dont give a fuck, why should anyone give a fuck about them?
Click to expand...

What type of assistance are you talking about here? Food stamps is just like 5 dollars a day, and disability income is given to those who are ruled to be incapable of working. Contrary to popular perception, the US doesn't cut checks for all poor people.
 
We were all responding to this at the same time! I came back and checked the thread and 23256 said what I immediately repeated!

Whoever wrote this article seems to be cherry-picking certain "facts" that favor his argument and omitting others....To suggest that welfare recipients use drugs at a lower rate than the general population seems absurd to me. And then he goes on to say that only one person in the entire state of Arizona that was tested for drugs who was on welfare tested positive?! but, 1736 other people just didn't show up?! I'm confused by that part of the whole thing...

If you don't think welfare recipients should be tested for drugs that's one thing, but if you want write an article about it, let's actually lay ALL the facts out in light of day...The link provided is to a great, jazzy little song BTW%), so I couldn't read all that was written, but from what I read of this guy, I find what he wrote to be a little bit sneaky and misleading...maybe he's spending his monthly check on weed and doesn't wanna get called out for it!=D
 
Nah not really food stamps, i mean where the recipient actually receives a check that is able to be turned into currency. There shouldnt be drug testing for food stamps, i think though that things like unemployment welfare ect should have to be used on certain things. Not the newest iphone or jordans. At the meth clinic i go to there are soooo many ppl there that know every trick of abusing the system. I see ppl who 4 or 5 gov assistance phones that you can get here in md. Its like a track phone where you get a certain number of mins a month, and this lady had a bunch of them and she said they all work, she sells pills and shit so im sure each phone serves a purpose for her. As far as food stamps, the most common for a single person i think is like 200 so yea a little more than 5 a day. Still with those ppl will sell their card and pin# for cash to buy drugs. Or will buy a bunch of baby formula to sell to get cash. Its almost impossible to police every person taking advantage, so its all one big grey area open to opinion. There def needs to be oversight of some sort tho.
 
^It's the food stamps that are the easiest to get, and the most abused AFAIK...they don't just give "welfare" to anyone anymore, but almost anyone can get foodstamps...
And it's usually like 150-200 for a single person...Certain stores will take them and give you smokes or liquor or whatever really, because they get the cash no matter what...They shouldn't urine test people, but they should make sure that it's food that's being bought...If you're broke and on drugs and the only food money you're getting you're giving to someone else for drugs? That's your own stupidity, and you can't really prevent that from happening...
 
But say I'm a chronically unemployed person with no medical disabilities and no dependent children. As an American, I'm entitled to about $5 a day of food stamps, plus free health care, plus what else? I think that's it, right?

And then so then, if you want to drug test me for the food stamps, I'd say it's probably cheaper to blindly give me the stamps.

I think everyone may agree: Nobody will choose to stay unemployed so they can keep getting $150 to $200 a month. I think this is where the conservative war on "welfare" is vastly misinformed.
 
What about test for subsidy farmers, bankers who got bail outs, government grants, inside government contracts that buy over priced goods, ?

But they are worried abut some broke fools getting $150. mo in food stamps ?

So the poor get to line up to have their blood searched or go without food from a government system ? So if they pass the drug test do they get a gold star on the jacket?
 
Its easy to beat a drug test. When I sold pills my house was stocked to the Max on the first of the month. There is a large segment of people receiving states funds that abuse the system. When I was in rehab I got food stamps. I had to go to the civic center to apply. Everyone in line there had multiple kids, hair and nails done up, nice Tim's and designer jeans so on and so forth....working two jobs I couldn't afford to have new shit at all.

It is angering....very angering. They should be given jobs. Ever been to the city and saw all the McDonald's wrappers, chips bags, and cans everywhere? That should never be when I'm paying others to stand around next to that garbage.
 
This drug testing welfare recipients is just in reality a corporate welfare scheme to give taxpayer money to drug-testing companies and those individuals who get a kickback by push this crap into legislation. Simple as that. Welfare recipients have lower rates of drug use/abuse than the general population after all.
 
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