Why can't we drug test people who are on welfare?

Ducky S

that's a good idea -- especially for all the moms with 20 kids getting government subsistence.... i understand how the government couldn't really legally make that happen -- but it is a great idea...

bostonianinmo

Because there's no direct link between being on welfare and using drugs.

The heaviest drug users I know are all employed.

sway_ii

We should, we should be drug testing our teachers as well.

chieko

I think all people should be periodically drug tested, and all school age kids starting in Junior High. It is possible to go your whole life without smoking dope or doing meth. People who have these problems should be helped and supported to not have that monkey on their back.

As for welfare, anyone on welfare should be made to work, McDonald's and Walmart hire people in wheelchairs...

adriftfeline SDA-YEC

Ya, no kidding!! I'm all for a system like that.

birdsnakecatharine

Working peoples taxes buys drugs for welfare people.
Liberals will fight for this right.

FREAKZILLA

you have a good idea , but what if they fail the test ? do they go to jail? or just get cut off and live on the streets , that would definately be what they deserve but this is why it would never happen . they have disability for people that are disabled , welfare is completely different and should a have a 6 month minimum just for help instead of a long term solution

Get_R_Done_n_Dallas

i agree b/c i am on welfare and see people come in asking for help all dressed up in name brand clothing and all their "bling" and here i am struggling cause the state won't help get my ex to pay support.

welfare (depending on what help you are getting and the state) is only short term. when i lost my job i got every help in the world...food stamps, medicaid, cash benefits, and daycare assistance. All of that minus medicaid is strictly short term. As soon as I got a job (2mos later) my food stamps and cash benefits stopped. I am now on a state assisted daycare discount and still get Medicaid...but I work every day and a full time job...i am thankful for the help i received!

for TX they have become more strict on their policy...you can only be on the TANF & cash help for no more than a year and they REQUIRE you attend orrientations at the workforce commission, and require that you report your weekly job search and interview process. they are making it harder for those to "milk" the system when they are able to work and not allowing them to make excuses why they can't get a job. they will even help you with daycare and transportation to get to a job interview...plus they work on a score system..if you dont follow the rules and such, they take your points away, which could lead to your benefits being stopped until its resolved.

so i commend the state for starting to make it more difficult to "milk" them....they have come a long way. i was on state help in 95 and now again...and believe me its ALOT different now!

Thaylen M

Then you also have to test the people who go to work. There is such a mentality to single out low income people and blame them for some of everything. You believe your taxes go to welfare? What about that waste of money space program? What about your state taxes for schools and roads and other development programs? IT"S NOT ALL ABOUT WELFARE. I hope you never have to know what it's like to have to choose between your glaucoma medicine or your blood pressure medicine. Or whether to pay your electric or buy groceries. Yes there are people who take advantage but to generalize poor people like that is wrong. Know your facts before you point your finger.

Itrolla

It's wrong. Assuming all poor people are criminals is wrong. I'm tired of the upper, middle class snobbery.

jonmarbles

Because Government cheese has crack in it so all the tests would come back positive....

Svartalf

Drug tests should be illegal, unless there is probable cause.

Good idea, except drug and alchohol abuse are viewed as a disability, So they will still get the money.all a part of buying votes, thank the libs for it. Same reason they want to make it legal for convicted criminals to vote and no ID required to vote.

tasha

They should be tested. I was on welfare for 10 months. Fell on hard times, very hard. Homeless with my two year old daughter. College educated. Lost my job, two cars and my apartment. I didn't do drugs. Bad things do happen to good people. It was a stepping stone for me though. I would receive $320/mo. I don't know who would want to get that a month. Now I have a good job, car, and my own apt. Don't judge a book by its cover. Yes there are those with multiple children milking the system. But now if you have one child and have another you will only get amount for one child. So there are ways they are trying to curb abuse.

jasonstroble

This is a sensitive topic for a lot of ppl. You and a lot of others, including myself, are enraged by those ppl "milking" the system. This will never be put into place because of the amount of money and effort it would take.

I also don't think this would be the best way to go about it either...families lifestyles should be screened and checked up on. We check out a household more for if they want to adopt an animal then if we want to through $1000's of dollars of taxpayers money at them every month. Consider this...

-Families in the city that have spent GENERATIONS on welfair...they do nothing and their kids and grandkids will do nothing as well and get money for it...that is the way they are raised. Should we support this??!!? It's a never ending cycle.

-Families on welfare that start off with 1/no kids and end up with 7/8 kids and they are still on welfair - h*ll after the second we should cut em off...and tell them to get an F*ING job!

-Ever do any charity work for "families in need on welfare?" I have ...I've seen people who can barely afford their own rent give $100+ dollars in toys to "poor welfare families" and we go to drop off the toys and there is BMW outside and a 53' flat screen on the wall of the living room.

I'm sure there are 1000 other situations then what I have...but they will never be fixed. Its sad and unfortunate but at least we DO know that we are helping someone out there who is honest, a hard worker, and just can't make "ends meat." Until welfare is gone we'll just have to put up with it the crap that comes with it!

macdoodle

being disabled and abusing drugs can be the same person but there are laws that don't allow certain privacy and civil rights abuses by the govt.
unfortunately many mentally ill self medicate with illegal drugs.
look up the SSA regulations and disabled rights. current use of illegal substances is not a disability.
of course if someone is using illegal drugs you should do something. help them get into a program etc. or if your just going to be mean, call the pd.
disability and drug use are two separate issues.

firewomen

Be careful what you wish for, it might come true.

Trout

It's a loss of rights of a section of the population. That loss makes it easy to target the next section and the next until no one has any rights at all.

So if you want to go down that slippery slope and hope the government doesn't eventually misuse it in 2 years or 20 then go ahead.

Whatever you do to the weakest persons in your society can easily be done to you next -

awakeatdawn

I personally believe that it's a good idea to drug test people of welfare, but remember that the government is the master of making simple things complicated and cheap things expensive. Even if we did pass legislation making this necessary (which I approve of) it won't save taxpayers a dime. Any money we stop paying out to welfare recipients will be cycled back into the system to fund this drug testing. (I still don't have a problem with that. I'd rather fund drug testing than drug habits.) What scares me about this process is that the children of these users (who need to be elsewhere anyway) will be processed into the foster system which is already inadequte, overloaded, and ineffective.
So while this is a good idea, in the end it will prove more expensive, if more appropriate, than our current system. In order to make this happen we need to put pressure on our legislators to press this issue at the state and federal level. Make it a make or break issue for election and it will get attention.

Bubba Ho-Tepppppp

omg that is a good idea. We do it at work, so why in the !@#$ shouldn't we do it for welfare?

Think of the workplace. How many people in a business operation are white collar workers?

It's true that some companies are entirely white collar, but I mean the business process as a whole, which might mean more than one company getting together to procure resources, manufacter, assemble, warehouse, and distribute a product or service.

I think it should take no more than one white collar for every blue collar.

The ratio of white collars to blue collars in the States passed 50% decades ago. We're operating at above 65% white collar now. Why is this important? Because it means that the rest ofthe blue collars are overseas. This also means that we have more educated people making a living at white collar functions such as optimization of business functions, which means making blue collar workers work harder... for less!

Does this lead to unemployment? Yes! Back in the early '80's, goverment spending in transfer funds passed 54%. Transfer funds are when the government GIVES money or something of value to someone. Welfare is a transfer payment.

So when soeone does drugs and gets booted from the increasingly competetive blue collar work environment, they have this option of gathering wealth in the form of transfer payments... which very conceivably can FUND a drug dealer.

Crusader1189

While I am partially in favor of being able to make certain demands of people receiving public funds, the mere fact that someone is on public assistance does not warrant the assumption that they are doing something criminal. Both natures fight inside me and depending on the day one is dominant.

Kathy K

BRAVO!!!!!!!!-GO HEAD GIRL--I have totally agreed with your question for the past 48 yrs----GOOD FOR YOU---ABOUT TIME--& BETTER YET "THE WOMAN SPEAK UP" THANK YOU.

KATHY K

This Is Not Honor

Drug test the world.

NONAME

because they would stop selling drugs, and the tax revenue would plummet.

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