Should People on Welfare be Drug Tested?

When we don’t know how to control ourselves some changes have to be made. There are always has been and always will be consequences to our actions when we don’t know when to quit. Americans are greedy in so many ways, especially when it comes to getting assistance from the government. A good portion of the United States gets assistance. There are also people who don’t use that assistance, which is awesome. The government has set up assistance for the needy but they have to follow a set guideline in order to get it or continue receiving it. Some use it wisely and others abuse it. When the government started seeing people using that assistance for unnecessary things like drugs they stepped in. Now that people who want to apply for assistance or continue with it they are required to do a drug test/drug screening test. Some of those people think it is irrelevant to do so. So it comes down to this one question, should people who are getting assistance or want to be on assistance be drug tested?

The law requires random testing of anyone who has had a felony drug conviction in the previous 10 years. For failing a drug test once, a recipient’s benefits are reduced by 30 percent. For failing twice, a recipient is disqualified from permanently receiving his/her benefits. The law applies to those receiving benefits under the state’s general assistance. The law was strengthened in 2012 with a measure of data sharing about convicted drug felons between the State Corrections and Human Services Departments. Which then also brought more debate on the law. The purpose is to prevent welfare fraud. “We don’t want to see well intended and generous welfare dollars that are for kids to be used for drugs instead.” says Rep. Steve Drazkowski.

Accord...

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... to introduce a bill to modify a state law that mandates random drug testing of welfare recipients who have recently been convicted of a drug felony.” The law burdens and already stressed county welfare system, costs more money and time than it will save. The role of the county welfare is to follow the law, not to redefine it.

Moran once again encourages the general public to view welfare recipients through a “negative lens” and says there are other better ways of supporting families.

As Congress races before the end of the year to find common ground on the extension of unemployment benefits, drug testing the recipients of those benefits promises to be a topic ripe for compromise. So as it stands right now, Should Welfare recipients be drug tested?

Works Cited

www.debate.org www. usnews.com www.Huffingtonpost.com www.minnpost.com www.aclu.org www.ncsl.org