Welfare Drug Testing Research Paper

Is Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Constitutional?

OVERVIEW

Recently Floridas governor Rick Scott put a new drug testing law into action. This law calls for the drug testing of welfare recipients, simply because taxpayers do not want to support drug addictions, but would rather the money go toward necessities like children and food. What do we as Americans do about this? Are there options to reform the welfare system? Other states have attempted laws similar to this but none have succeeded. Why? Is drug testing welfare recipients unconstitutional?

WELFARE IN HISTORY

The goal of welfare is to assist individuals in a time of need, lift them out of poverty and make them self sufficient. The welfare system was introduced in
“In the case Marchwinski v. Howard, the ACLU challenged Michigans across the board testing and the district court ruled that it violated the recipients fourth amendment rights against unreasonable searches. The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the decision, but then withdrew the reversal after rehearing the case and splitting the vote” (CLASP).
Many other states have looked into introducing drug testing in their welfare policies, but due to its legality and cost it was never put into action. I feel that we need to push this issue in more states and eventually once people see that its what the public wants, there will be some kind of welfare reassessment.

DRUG TESTING WELFARE RECIPIENTS IS CONSTITUTIONAL

The fourth amendment of the United States constitution
I am not saying that everybody on welfare is a lazy bum, but the welfare system has been taken advantage of by way too many people. There needs to be some kind of check to make sure that people are actually trying to make a living for themselves, and are using the money provided by the citizens of the US in a respectable way. Maybe instead of sending a check each month, issue the money onto like a prepaid credit card, and do not allow cash to be taken out at ATMs or banks. This way we are almost positive that the funds are going toward food, childrens items, and necessities. Also, take marijuana off the list of drugs that if found make you ineligible. Lets get real here. Everybody, or at least a LOT of people smoke weed. I feel like it could be much worse. Save the restrictions for the hard drug users, such as cocaine, heroine, and meth. I do not believe that drug testing is any violation to our constitutional rights. Simply keep the tests confidential, and either way the recipient is going to get the money whether the check is in their name, or their friends name. I feel like the only people that would have a problem with this are the drug users. If you are a single mother and honestly do need the money to make ends meet then (and drug free), then I do not see the big deal with agreeing to a