Drug tests for welfare recipients?

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-19-2008
Drug tests for welfare recipients?
37
Thu, 03-26-2009 - 2:47pm

Do we give up our privacy when on the dole? Should welfare moms who have a drug problem be identified? What are the ramifications of random drug testing of the poor or unemployed?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/S/STATES_WELFARE_WITH_STRINGS?SITE=WBBMAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

States consider drug tests for welfare recipients

Want government assistance? Just say no to drugs.

Lawmakers in at least eight states want recipients of food stamps, unemployment benefits or welfare to submit to random drug testing.

The effort comes as more Americans turn to these safety nets to ride out the recession. Poverty and civil liberties advocates fear the strategy could backfire, discouraging some people from seeking financial aid and making already desperate situations worse.

Those in favor of the drug tests say they are motivated out of a concern for their constituents' health and ability to put themselves on more solid financial footing once the economy rebounds. But proponents concede they also want to send a message: you don't get something for nothing.

"Nobody's being forced into these assistance programs," said Craig Blair, a Republican in the West Virginia Legislature who has created a Web site - notwithmytaxdollars.com - that bears a bobble-headed likeness of himself advocating this position. "If so many jobs require random drug tests these days, why not these benefits?"

Blair is proposing the most comprehensive measure in the country, as it would apply to anyone applying for food stamps, unemployment compensation or the federal programs usually known as "welfare": Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Women, Infants and Children.

Lawmakers in other states are offering similar, but more modest proposals.

On Wednesday, the Kansas House of Representatives approved a measure mandating drug testing for the 14,000 or so people getting cash assistance from the state, which now goes before the state senate. In February, the Oklahoma Senate unanimously passed a measure that would require drug testing as a condition of receiving TANF benefits, and similar bills have been introduced in Missouri and Hawaii. A Florida senator has proposed a bill linking unemployment compensation to drug testing, and a member of Minnesota's House of Representatives has a bill requiring drug tests of people who get public assistance under a state program there.

A January attempt in the Arizona Senate to establish such a law failed.

In the past, such efforts have been stymied by legal and cost concerns, said Christine Nelson, a program manager with the National Conference of State Legislatures. But states' bigger fiscal crises, and the surging demand for public assistance, could change that.

"It's an example of where you could cut costs at the expense of a segment of society that's least able to defend themselves," said Frank Crabtree, executive director of the West Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Drug testing is not the only restriction envisioned for people receiving public assistance: a bill in the Tennessee Legislature would cap lottery winnings for recipients at $600.

There seems to be no coordinated move around the country to push these bills, and similar proposals have arisen periodically since federal welfare reform in the 1990s. But the appearance of a cluster of such proposals in the midst of the recession shows lawmakers are newly engaged about who is getting public assistance.

Particularly troubling to some policy analysts is the drive to drug test people collecting unemployment insurance, whose numbers nationwide now exceed 5.4 million, the highest total on records dating back to 1967.

"It doesn't seem like the kind of thing to bring up during a recession," said Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "People who are unemployed, who have lost their job, that's a sympathetic group. Americans are tuned into that, because they're worried they'll be next."

Indeed, these proposals are coming at a time when more Americans find themselves in need of public assistance.

Although the number of TANF recipients has stayed relatively stable at 3.8 million in the last year, claims for unemployment benefits and food stamps have soared.

In December, more than 31.7 million Americans were receiving food stamp benefits, compared with 27.5 million the year before.

The link between public assistance and drug testing stems from the Congressional overhaul of welfare in the 1990s, which allowed states to implement drug testing as a condition of receiving help.

But a federal court struck down a Michigan law that would have allowed for "random, suspicionless" testing, saying it violated the 4th Amendment's protections against unreasonable search and seizure, said Liz Schott, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

At least six states - Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Wisconsin and Virginia - tie eligibility for some public assistance to drug testing for convicted felons or parolees, according to the NCSL.

Nelson said programs that screen welfare applicants by assigning them to case workers for interviews have shown some success without the need for drug tests. These alternative measures offer treatment, but can also threaten future benefits if drug problems persist, she said.

They also cost less than the $400 or so needed for tests that can catch a sufficient range of illegal drugs, and rule out false positive results with a follow-up test, she said.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Sat, 03-28-2009 - 8:36pm

I, to, think it's terrible that the taxpayer has to pay for women who have babies by sperm donors or embryo implantation without a way to pay for them.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Sat, 03-28-2009 - 8:43pm

The drug lords are becoming stronger and stronger.

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Sat, 03-28-2009 - 8:48pm
It's wrong to be sexist.
iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Sat, 03-28-2009 - 9:01pm

I agree, the whole system is a mess.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2008
Sat, 03-28-2009 - 9:01pm
I disagree to a point. It would depend on the drug. Marijuana is a "who cares" because medical is legal and is used in treatments for Glaucoma and for relief of the misery of Cancer treatments! We in this country have a belief in suffering (somehow that is good) I have witnessed what people go through in Cancer treatments.
I also have no problem with a person drinking,having sex,playing golf etc. We in this country like to kick people to the curb and then offer "help". Many counselors are worthless as they have different ideas of how "things are supposed to be" than their client So not help there either!!
Hard drugs? The problem is that by the time someone qualifies they may be traumatized. To successfully get off an addiction the individual must want to be free of the addiction and deal with their pain. A Drug test just drives the problem deeper. So they won't get any help.
People who have not had problems like those cannot understand fully what it means. I can't either because I have a anti-addiction persona. However, I have seen what our society does to people. We cannot assume everyone is like us!
Hornycomments.com for myspace adult comments
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2008
Sat, 03-28-2009 - 9:10pm
Yes, you are right! We need to be better at helping people get up out of poverty. The laws are mean and abusive. As more scandals like the judges in Pa. Prove the waste in money and lives has not been worth it. Our system has become corrupt. Fraud and abuse are everywhere!
European kids get a free education thru college like California did in the 60's!! The real reason they stopped was the political control! The student loan program was devised to force the former students into the work force and keep student riots from happening!!
This society does a lot of "lip service" but ghettoizes the poor making it easy to abuse them. Worse, "low income housing is set apart so we can discriminate.
Hornycomments.com for myspace adult comments
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-10-2008
Sat, 03-28-2009 - 9:33pm
I agree!! We could provide birth control free and free sterilizations!! A problem occurs when a woman wants and can afford children has them with a chosen male and later becomes economically depressed. Then the state forces her to reveal the sire. Any agreement she might have had is denied. Artificial insemination however, is protected no come back nor is their a means test. The Octomom is a example of the policies that are in place to exploit the citizen.
The reasoning is money. And greed by those who stand to gain.
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