There is an ongoing debate over whether or not Welfare recipients should be drug tested to receive the benefits. The lines of reasoning from both sides of this argument have unambiguous points. Those who oppose the idea of drug testing say that it is unconstitutional, and violates the Fourth Amendment. Furthermore, they claim that this law stereotypes and discriminates against the poor , implying that because they are poor, they must be drug addicts. However, individuals that support the law, express that the plan being put in effect is to ensure that tax payer’s money isn’t being thrown away on people who only plan to abuse this assistance. Out of the fifty states, only nine have proceeded with the drug testing of candidates. The drug testing has proven to be quite expensive. Consequently, some of the states only test subjects with whom they find suspicion, or that have admitted to drug use in the past. Though the proposal of drug testing Welfare applicants appears to be a good idea to weed out spongers from getting assistance, it seems that more money may be wasted on the testing itself, which would be imprudent in proving this law worthwhile.
Welfare is a federally funded program that provides health care, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing that is under the umbrella of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Per Welfare Information, eligibility is determined by net income, family size, and any crisis situation such as: pregnancy, homelessness, and unemployment. TANF also requires the recipient to obtain employment within two years of receiving help (2014). A majority of the monies that support Welfare come from taxes paid by the working class and donations from private companie...
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... News. Retrieved from http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-03-18/drug-testing-welfare-applicants/53620604/1 Pollack, H. (2002, January –February). Drug Testing Welfare Recipients-False Positives, False
Negatives, Unanticipated Opportunities. Women’s Health Issues, Vol. 12(1), pp. 23-31, Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1049-3867(01)00139-6
Shaberg, A. (2012, April 1). State Drug Testing Requirements for Welfare Recipients: Are
Missouri and Florida’s New Laws Constitutional? Missouri Law Review, Spring2012, Vol. 77 Issue 2, p567-589. 23p. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=aef9f6f7-734d-4a6c-adae-2b97736ecc93%40sessionmgr111&vid=2&hid=127
US Welfare System – Help for US Citizens. (2014). Welfare Information. Retrieved from http://www.welfareinfo.org/
"States Consider Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients." FoxNews.com - Breaking News | Latest News | Current News. 26 March 2009. Web. 31 January 2011
There has been an ongoing controversy as to whether welfare recipients should have to have drug testing done. Drug testing will ensure that recipients will not abuse the money they’re given by the government. Having people on welfare take drug test is advantageous because it could save the system money, it would help social workers identify children who are around drug abuse, and it would deter people from purchasing and using illegal drugs; however, it does have a downside such as people who are on prescription medication will show false positives, it can be an invasion of privacy and drug testing can take hundreds and even thousands of dollars to administer.
“Should Welfare Recipients Be Tested for Drugs?” Debate Club, U.S News and World Report. http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-welfare-recipients-be-tested-for-drugs
"States Consider Drug Tests for Welfare Recipients - Health News | Current Health News | Medical News - FOXNews.com." FoxNews.com - Breaking News | Latest News | Current News. 26 Mar. 2009. Web. 08 Feb. 2011. .
Welfare is one government aid program that is designed to help those living in poverty. It is essentially financial aid for those living in poverty. While this is not the only government aid program that exists to help those in need, it is a very large program. It was first put in place in the 1930s during the gre...
In an effort to make drug testing for employees of the federal government more accurate, to deter false positives and false negatives it has been suggested to use alternative methods of testing. The Associated Press reported a movement by the federal government to "overhaul its employee drug testing program". (TAP, pg 1) Currently, the government tests its employees during the pre-employment selection and when accidents
In my opinion I feel that this time of authority drug test are not effective. ” It would seem that if this policy were to make way that there would not be such a large rate of recidivism” (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1999). It takes more that sending a person to prison to break them of their habits. The means which are necessary to aid the cause of ending a drug habit are not available with this policy. Under the Bill of rights, the four rights that this policy violates are, The right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to be treated the same as others.
There has been many cases of fraud that people have lied about housing and unemployment. This leads to questionable debate whether recipients should be drug tested or not. In North Carolina a law has been passes for all of the recipients getting assistance must be drug tested. (Parker 1) “For example, according to The Associated Press, Utah saved $350,000 in its first year of drug-screening welfare applicants, though it found only about 12 people who tested positive” (Parker 1). Many states have questioned this new law to be passed or not because it may save the government money in the long run.
... to introduce a bill to modify a state law that mandates random drug testing of welfare recipients who have recently been convicted of a drug felony.” The law burdens and already stressed county welfare system, costs more money and time than it will save. The role of the county welfare is to follow the law, not to redefine it.
On a fundamental level, welfare is the aid provided for those in need in the form of money or necessities. The six most common forms of welfare include Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Food Stamp Program (FSP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Medicaid, housing assistance, and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC); these programs supply the most essential needs of citizens who live without them. In the ethical regard, welfare promotes economic consistency by providing for those who cannot provide for themselves. Without the introduction of welfare programs, there would be an insurmountable economic depression as well as a perpetual population of unemployed, impoverished individuals. The United
Welfare policy includes relief systems like TANF and SNAP benefits intend to help families in times of need when they struggle to provide for their families basic needs. TANF and SNAP are programs help families sustain a daily lifestyle that cover things such as food assistance, rent assistance, and cash assistance. For example, when a family finds themselves suddenly without income, they may apply for these programs and if they meet a certain criteria they will receive assistance from the federal government to help obtain their basic needs. It goes without saying that there is extreme controversy when discussing a state of need for welfare for families. When policy of welfare is created it is intended to help the greater portion of people
Drug use now in days has grown more over these past years, with the abuse of drugs many people still have the privilege to apply freely to the welfare programs such as WIC, Food Stamps, and TANF. My interest to this topic is why it would be unconstitutional to be able to do a drug testing on welfare applicants.
Drug testing kits have become relatively inexpensive over the last few years due to our increased imports from China. The annual savings of promoting good health by screening out a drug addicted applicant is substantial when comparing the difference in taxpayer money that was lost after a recipient misused their benefits to support a chemical addiction. After a welfare recipient passes an initial drug screening and receives their electronic benefit card, the food stamp account should be monitored monthly to verify nutritious foods are being bought. Buying nutritious foods instead of selling or trading food stamps for illegal drugs or alcohol promotes the overall health of a mind and body. A healthy mind and body then creates an individual who makes adequate progress in their daily
Welfare is the modern day Robin Hood, robbing the rich and middle working class to support the poor. Our current welfare system has reached a record level of over 109,000,000 means tested recipients. (U.S. Census) Means tested is a process in which the government analyzes your ability to take care of your family without their assistance through subsidized aid. Some of the more popular government aid programs include Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Medicaid, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). With all the different government aid programs available now, the lines between social classes become blurred. The morality of taking free money is questioned, despite knowing where it comes from, and how hard people have to
The article identifies the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, both from 1996. These acts state that it is individually up to the States in that they may require drugs tests for recipients and have the option to penalize those who fail. Further, states may put a “lifetime ban on TANF and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program… benefits for persons convicted of a drug-related felony”, however, most states chose to offer and/or require substance abuse treatments for those receiving benefits. Further, the article discusses a pilot test conducted in Florida for drug testing welfare recipients. It states that, “drug testing did not produce reliable estimates of the level of drug use” amongst recipients and goes on to discuss that several candidates likely to have tested positive instead returned negative tests. Also discussed is the cost to test welfare recipients. State costs were estimated to run between $92,487 and up