Cheating On Welfare

Ever think about how those who are on welfare are cheating the system? There are many cases that talk about those in desperate need of financial assistance due to dreadful circumstances. For instance, a single mother raising a child/children without any benefits from the father. Or a single father raising a child/children without any support from the mother. On the other hand, there are multiple cases as to where those on welfare are simply cheating their way through the system. Furthermore, an abundance of people lie on their welfare applications just so they can receive extra currency. Now, tax payers wonder what their money is going towards and it is being spent wisely or not. When looking at the demographics to where welfare benefices …show more content…
In 2011 out of that 23,145,561 people roughly 17. 9 percent (4,501,055 people) are on welfare. With this knowledge in mind, one can only imagine the amount of people who use welfare benefits to go towards their drug use. Throughout the year there have been many states that proposed drug screenings or testing for qualification of welfare benefits. Senator Nelson addresses in Ura’s article how “We need to ensure this program is putting individuals on a true path to self sufficiency, and drugs are a barrier to independence.” This is asserting that, there are many people who think of their welfare benefits as some type of get out of jail free card; they’re not solely relying on themselves. They’re so consumed with living off of the government, especially when the government is paying for their drugs. For instance, those who do receive financial assistance (Medicaid, food stamps, social security, etc.) don’t spend their money on necessities. Instead they spend their money on their drug addiction. But its not only money that people use, there has been many cases where people trade their food stamps for drugs. People must take into consideration that in Texas, the total amount of money being used for welfare is over $5 million each month; that’s $60 million a year. In Drug Testing for Welfare Benefits Back on the Table, Jane Nelson fells that “Tax payers should not be used to support a person’s drug habit…” Many can …show more content…
On the other hand, it is believed that if the state can find any doubt on any beneficiary then that certain beneficiary will be screened; therefore, making it reasonable. Ura asserts, “Federal law allows States to drug tests welfare recipients if they can ‘establish suspicion’ for the test…” Basically that’s saying that if a person was recently charged with possession of marijuana is applying for food stamps, because she/he were recently charged with possession then she could in fact be drug