Argument Essay: Drug Testing for Welfare
The Push for Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients
United States lawmakers face one of the most pressing issues of our time-welfare reform. New screening processes, often considered a direct violation of constitutional rights, have already been enacted in many states. Strong evidence exists, asserting that the practice of administering drug testing to welfare recipients will cost the U.S. taxpayers more money in the long run, stigmatize applicants and participants, and serve only the purpose of making the pharmaceutical companies more powerful. In order to protect the constitutional rights of potential welfare recipients, United States lawmakers should avoid further criminalizing the poor by submitting them to drug testing and/or a nationwide welfare registry. This year, 29 states have either proposed or already passed legislation calling for drug testing to receive welfare benefits. Brian Kelley reports that of those 29 states, several are seeing a great deal of financial loss as a result of this legislation:
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 (1).
Kelley goes on to report:
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 (1).
The numbers do not lie—little evidence exists that supports the claim that drug testing recipients will save money. Striving to prove that the main source of the drug problem in the United States lies in the recipients of the welfare program, policymakers continue to work fervently. The
United States lawmakers face one of the most pressing issues of our time-welfare reform. New screening processes, often considered a direct violation of constitutional rights, have already been enacted in many states. Strong evidence exists, asserting that the practice of administering drug testing to welfare recipients will cost the U.S. taxpayers more money in the long run, stigmatize applicants and participants, and serve only the purpose of making the pharmaceutical companies more powerful. In order to protect the constitutional rights of potential welfare recipients, United States lawmakers should avoid further criminalizing the poor by submitting them to drug testing and/or a nationwide welfare registry. This year, 29 states have either proposed or already passed legislation calling for drug testing to receive welfare benefits. Brian Kelley reports that of those 29 states, several are seeing a great deal of financial loss as a result of this legislation:
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 (1).
Kelley goes on to report:
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 (1).
The numbers do not lie—little evidence exists that supports the claim that drug testing recipients will save money. Striving to prove that the main source of the drug problem in the United States lies in the recipients of the welfare program, policymakers continue to work fervently. The
Cited: Friedman, Corey. "Drug Tests for Welfare Recipients?" McClatchy - Tribune Business News. Jul 27 2013. ProQuest. Web. 2 Oct. 2013. Gustafson, Kaaryn. "The Criminalization of Poverty." Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology 99.3 (2009): 643-716. ProQuest. Web. 8 Oct. 2013 Kelly, Brian P. “An Inane, Money Eating Sham: Drug Tests for Welfare a Huge Failure.” Salon.com. Salon Media Group. 29 Aug 2013. Web. 25 Oct 2013. Macdonald, Isabel. "The GOP 's Drug Test Dragnet. (Cover Story)." Nation 296.16 (2013): 11- 17. Academic Search Elite. Web. 26 Sept. 2013. Pollack, Harold. "States Want Drug Tests for Welfare Recipients. That 's a Terrible Idea." The Washington Post. 05 June 2013. ProQuest. Web. 26 Sept 2013.