Should drug tests be required of welfare recipients? No, I don't think so. Welfare recipients are typically extremely poor and are uneducated. Another aspect of welfare recipients is that they are mentally ill. It would seem too ignoble to find ways to deny recipients access to welfare.
Welfare recipients are usually on welfare because they lack an education and training to earn a better living. Their education only allows them basic opportunities for earning a paycheck, if they even have an education that high. Because of this, they probably aren't thoroughly educated about illegal drugs. Illegal drugs are a complex issue. It is often simplified to people to just don't use them. But that's too much of a simplification for many people. For instance, why is alcohol and tobacco products legal but marijuana and heroin aren't even though all four are technically drugs? This leads some people that the legalization of drugs are rather arbitrary and most drugs aren't as dangerous as the government makes it seem. These poor try drugs and get addicted because they just aren't educated enough on the consequences of their actions.
Another reason why welfare recipients …show more content…
use illegal drugs is because they suffer from undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. One very prominent reason why welfare recipients can't hold down an average job is because they are suffering from mental illnesses which makes it difficult for them to keep a job without therapy and medication. Public healthcare in the United States is exceedingly lacking, so the mentally ill who are so poor normally does not get the therapy or medication they need simply because they cannot pay for it. Those recipients who are mentally ill usually resort to illegal drugs in an attempt to self-medicate their symptoms and condition.
It is not the fault of mentally ill recipients that they are mentally ill. It is also not their fault that the United States has a poor social net to provide them with the therapy and medication they need. They self-medicate on illegal drugs because they can not afford the prescription drugs they really need.
It also seems hypocritical to deny recipients welfare if they test positive for drugs when there is no national government sponsored treatment center to help them deal with drug addiction. We don't want to pay recipients to get welfare if they're using illegal drugs but then again we don't want to pay to get them off of drugs so they can get welfare either. What recourse does a welfare recipienthave to earn a living? Only one: crime. So instead of being paid for by the government through welfare checks they are paid for by the government through incarceration in our prisons.
Lastly, if we're going to deny welfare recipients government money for basic living because they've tested positive for illegal drugs, why don't we deny government employees and officials their paycheck if they've tested positive for illegal drugs? After all, political officials are paid for by government money derived from tax revenue just like welfare recipients are. However, elected officials, especially those as high as our Congressmen, Senators, Cabinet Secretaries and even Vice President and President do not have to undergo testing for illegal drugs to keep their positions. This despite being granted grant vast amounts of responsibility over the functioning of our government. To put it another way, the American people cannot determine whether or not those who are in charge of declaring war and authorizing the use of our nuclear arsenal are using illegal drugs. Why should we punish the poor for doing something that we can't punish our national leaders for? http://www.helium.com/items/1674227-should-drug-tests-be-required-of-welfare-recipients?page=2 On June 1, Florida Governor, Rick Scott, signed a bill requiring welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving welfare benefits. This law will go into effect on July 1, 2011. Governor Scott said it is “unfair for Florida taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction”. While I whole-heartedly agree that taxpayers' money should only be used for what it is intended, I don't believe that drug testing is the answer. Being born and raised in the Detroit area. I have known countless people who have received or are still receiving welfare benefits. I will say that MOST of the people that I know are using the money to provide a home for their children, put food on the table, and survive until they find work; however, I also know welfare recipients who are alcoholics, drug addicts.
There is no way to guarantee that taxpayers' money is not being wasted. Unfortunately, we have to take the good with the bad and give money blindly. Everyone has heard the stories of welfare recipients who are driving brand new Escalades. There are recipients who may not be legitimately employed, but they are earning money illegally by not reporting their income or participating in some other illicit activity, all the while still stealing taxpayer dollars.
One could argue that many employers require mandatory drug testing so it is only fair, but think about it. We turn away an addict because they can not pass a drug test, then they will obviously not be able to get a job either. What next?
Drug addicts have a disease. Cutting them off of welfare benefits is not the solution. I believe that rather than denying them benefits, they should be required to participate in a treatment plan. If left untreated and without any money, how many of these people will turn to crime in moments of desperation. Many of the addicts will end up in prison and their children will end up in foster care, and taxpayers will still be the ones left picking up the tab.
A law requiring welfare recipients to be drug tested could be a step in the right direction; however, we should at least make an attempt to fix the problem once we know it exists. Testing applicants with the only intention being to turn them away if they test positive for drugs will not fix the problem. It will just create different, perhaps bigger problems down the road. http://www.helium.com/items/2170406-welfare-recipents-drug-testing Perhaps the biggest myth when it comes to welfare in America is that the majority of taxpayer dollars go towards social and human services welfare programs. In fact the largest benefactor of American tax payer dollars are corporate welfare recipients. In light of this, by all means drug tests are in order along with polygraphs, extensive criminal background checks, credit checks, stock holdings, etc. When a corporation gets bailed out by the government we the taxpayers pay for it. When a farmer gets behind, he loses his farm, or is forced out by a corporate holding.
With a little effort and some time researching the numbers will astound you. What is spent in comparison to corporate welfare, on social programs and what we understand as 'welfare' and human services programs is less than 2% of the national budget overall. The same pitiful amount we extend in global aid even though President Bush proposed a 7 percent funding for aid to help third world countries, we contribute less than any developed nation in the world.
Having said this and consdiering the state of the economy today.
Who exactly is on welfare? Who is collecting and using food stamps these days? The majority of people are lower middle class, working poor to poor caucasion families. Those who can no longer afford to put gas in thier cars and food on the table. Should they be drug tested? Should parents in states with a working wage of 9.00 an hour and a state minimum wage of 5.15 an hour which neither supports a family, pays for the gas required to get to a job, or feed a family, be drug tested, or should the policy makers who do not live under these same standards be drug tested and better yet, forced to live on the wages that they set and believe to be fair and reasonable for working class
America?
Questions like this come armed with a great bias, and a long history of misinformation. Of course there are those who abuse the system, any and every system. From corporations and governments to food stamps and G.A.
The bigger question is do we want to spend more tax dollars employing yet another incompetant government employee to undertake yet another time consuming and ineffective, cog in the slow turning wheel of social services?
A crack head is pretty obvious as is a junkie, as is an alcoholic and not too many of them show up clean or sober to pick up a check. For anyone else who has a real need and has to go to one of these fabulous government offices to take care of business, the smell, the company, the polite and effecient workers, the timeliness of your visit (never less than half a day) is really more of a deterrant than any drug test could ever be.
http://www.helium.com/items/1173060-welfare-drug-testing-corporate-welfare-social-and-human-services-drug-testing