Drug Testing Welfare Recipients
Back in the day when a person didn’t have enough money to fulfill their needs and wants they went out and got a job. Today we have welfare, this is a well needed program in the United States for people in need. Although this is a helpful program for many, welfare has many flaws. Now, more than ever people are abusing the benefits they receive from the government. Recipients will take the taxpayers money and use it to buy drugs, and not use it to pay for what their family truly needs like food, and clothes. To stop the people who are abusing the welfare system there needs to be new rules and regulations put in place. Drug testing welfare recipients will help improve the welfare system and its recipients; it will …show more content…
Well that is wrong because it is known that there are some people who are on welfare and that are using drugs. Dr. Pollack of the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program come out with a statement about welfare recipients and drug use. He said that 20% of people admitted that they recently used illegal drugs while accepting welfare (Concordian). In Michigan to receive government aid you had to take a random drug test. “Only 10% of people had a positive test for illicit drugs, and only 3% of the drug tests tested positive for "hard" drugs” (Grovum). This is a result from limited data though. People who already were granted government aid before they started drug testing may be getting drugs at the moment. Therefore if they continued to have drug testing when people had to reapply for aid in a few years then they would be caught. Michigan did not have that data because it stopped the program before it reached that point (Preface). People may say that 10% of positive results isn 't enough to continue the program. But that number is only small because of the limited time they drug tested, also you would still be cracking down on drug users who are abusing the welfare system (Grovum). Even a small portion of positive tests would help better the system and even maybe help the recipients who failed. People are not trying to judge you saying that you do drugs if you …show more content…
This may even cause people to be able to get a job if they got clean to pass the welfare drug test (Grovum). Opposition came up with a great point about children. People opposed to drug testing say that it may put vulnerable children at risk, if government aid was taken away from their parents. They say that if the benefits were taken away then the parents could not supply their children, food, housing, and clothing (Lewis, and Kenefick). But it should be pointed out that the only people who would lose benefits would be people who fail the drug tests. This is what someone said about their personal experience with a mother on welfare and who abused drugs ”Growing up, my mother was a recipient who abused the welfare system. I remember having no heat or electricity and being so hungry it was painful. My siblings and I would fist fight over food. She would trade her food stamp card for various things like cash, cigarettes and an occasional joint”(Ranee). So just like her situation, other parents parents will be buying drugs when they received welfare, more likely than not the parents were not supplying for their child in the first place just like
Ranee explains. If a person were to fail a welfare drug test, therefore to get money they would have to get a job and not just rely on welfare (Grovum). Therefore in the long run failing a drug test may even benefit a family with
Back in the day when a person didn’t have enough money to fulfill their needs and wants they went out and got a job. Today we have welfare, this is a well needed program in the United States for people in need. Although this is a helpful program for many, welfare has many flaws. Now, more than ever people are abusing the benefits they receive from the government. Recipients will take the taxpayers money and use it to buy drugs, and not use it to pay for what their family truly needs like food, and clothes. To stop the people who are abusing the welfare system there needs to be new rules and regulations put in place. Drug testing welfare recipients will help improve the welfare system and its recipients; it will …show more content…
Well that is wrong because it is known that there are some people who are on welfare and that are using drugs. Dr. Pollack of the Substance Abuse Policy Research Program come out with a statement about welfare recipients and drug use. He said that 20% of people admitted that they recently used illegal drugs while accepting welfare (Concordian). In Michigan to receive government aid you had to take a random drug test. “Only 10% of people had a positive test for illicit drugs, and only 3% of the drug tests tested positive for "hard" drugs” (Grovum). This is a result from limited data though. People who already were granted government aid before they started drug testing may be getting drugs at the moment. Therefore if they continued to have drug testing when people had to reapply for aid in a few years then they would be caught. Michigan did not have that data because it stopped the program before it reached that point (Preface). People may say that 10% of positive results isn 't enough to continue the program. But that number is only small because of the limited time they drug tested, also you would still be cracking down on drug users who are abusing the welfare system (Grovum). Even a small portion of positive tests would help better the system and even maybe help the recipients who failed. People are not trying to judge you saying that you do drugs if you …show more content…
This may even cause people to be able to get a job if they got clean to pass the welfare drug test (Grovum). Opposition came up with a great point about children. People opposed to drug testing say that it may put vulnerable children at risk, if government aid was taken away from their parents. They say that if the benefits were taken away then the parents could not supply their children, food, housing, and clothing (Lewis, and Kenefick). But it should be pointed out that the only people who would lose benefits would be people who fail the drug tests. This is what someone said about their personal experience with a mother on welfare and who abused drugs ”Growing up, my mother was a recipient who abused the welfare system. I remember having no heat or electricity and being so hungry it was painful. My siblings and I would fist fight over food. She would trade her food stamp card for various things like cash, cigarettes and an occasional joint”(Ranee). So just like her situation, other parents parents will be buying drugs when they received welfare, more likely than not the parents were not supplying for their child in the first place just like
Ranee explains. If a person were to fail a welfare drug test, therefore to get money they would have to get a job and not just rely on welfare (Grovum). Therefore in the long run failing a drug test may even benefit a family with