Drug Testing for welfare recipients

DaemonSeid · #1 03-26-2009, 09:08 AM

What say you?

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090326/D975MFE80.html

States consider drug tests for welfare recipients
Mar 26, 7:32 AM (ET)
By TOM BREEN

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - 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.

Craig Blair: "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.

Kevin · #2 03-26-2009, 09:23 AM

Sounds like a fine idea to me. Welfare is meant to be something to tie you over during bad times, not something to be a way of life. Taking drugs is going to hurt a person's ability to get back on her feet so it seems logical.

DaemonSeid · #3 03-26-2009, 09:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kevin

Sounds like a fine idea to me. Welfare is meant to be something to tie you over during bad times, not something to be a way of life. Taking drugs is going to hurt a person's ability to get back on her feet so it seems logical.

sexist....LOL

PM_Mama00 · #4 03-26-2009, 09:26 AM

It's about damn time!!!!! And make them get on birth control or tie their tubes!!!

I know someone on welfare. She's had a few jobs and walked out.(fast food) She has a few. It's not our fault that you're lazy. Why should we have to pay for people like this?

nikki1920 · #5 03-26-2009, 09:34 AM

We do offer low cost (<$5 ) or free birth control to people who are on Medicaid. Family planning is also offered to women who have given birth while on Medicaid. GYN visits, prescription for BC and sterilization options are offered. The father can also apply for family planning as well.

I agree in theory, but how would they be tested? If Mom tests positive for drugs and she is the head of household, does that mean the kids dont get benefits either? And if they slip up, then they lose their benefits and they end up on the street, doing what? If they are addicted, do they get help? (b/c according to policy, if you are in a residential facility for >30 days, you can't get any assistance.)

Educatingblue · #6 03-26-2009, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nikki1920

I agree in theory, but how would they be tested? If Mom tests positive for drugs and she is the head of household, does that mean the kids dont get benefits either? And if they slip up, then they lose their benefits and they end up on the street, doing what?

I am all for the drug testing, but I am curious as to how many slack parents would rather stay on the drugs than feed/provide for their children...

I.A.S.K. · #7 03-26-2009, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PM_Mama00

It's about damn time!!!!! And make them get on birth control or tie their tubes!!!

I know someone on welfare. She's had a few jobs and walked out.(fast food) She has a few. It's not our fault that you're lazy. Why should we have to pay for people like this?

I find this incredibly annoying. Make who get on birth control? And of course because you know someone that makes all of "them" lazy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

sexist....LOL

Yup it was!

Quote:

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum

I oppose this measure, it will only make things worse for everyone in those communities, will add to the already sky-high costs of some of these programs, adding extra staff, etc.

Kevin, you have a good point, but I don't really think that adding more government programs on top of government programs that have already been "tweaked" by just about every congress since they began, will work to help fix said government programs. It just seems like more red tape that eventually people will find loopholes in/their way around.

^ I agree. I think that it will just wind up being a waste of money. Money that could be put to much better use.

BaltoAlphaPsi · #8 03-26-2009, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by I.A.S.K.

I find this incredibly annoying. Make who get on birth control? And of course because you know someone that makes all of "them" lazy.

Yup it was!

^ I agree. I think that it will just wind up being a waste of money. Money that could be put to much better use.

BUT! if in the end we save money by not giving it to the mass amounts of druggies....

I.A.S.K. · #9 03-26-2009, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaltoAlphaPsi

BUT! if in the end we save money by not giving it to the mass amounts of druggies....

It is not likely that we will, in the end, save money but cutting all the druggies out of welfare. I think there's a very large misconception that the majority of people on welfare are abusing it. Not true. And to be honest how many strung out druggies are coherent enough to continue to meet the requirements to get welfare? If you're strung out then it is not very likely that you're up on your paper work or doing what you're supposed to to get your money. Hell most druggies are so far gone that they barely remember to get the damn check out of the mail box. The only people that this could possibly hurt is the children. Parents get taken off of welfare because they're irresponsible then the little bit of funds that the kids were getting disappears, but the need that the kids have does not.

madmax · #10 04-01-2009, 03:18 PM

Do away with welfare. Problem solved. Welfare recipients are a waste of good air.

DaemonSeid · #11 04-01-2009, 03:47 PM

And then what, genius?

Here is the hard part, you do away with welfare and then you have millions who are un (and under) qualified to work, so what do you do with them?

File for unemployment?

It's not that easy to "just do away with it"

As much as I hate seeing people taking advantage of the system, if you just kick a few million people ('trailer trash' and 'hoods rats' alike) off the roles, then the govt will have a much more dangerous precedent they are setting.

AnchorAlum · #12 04-12-2009, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Educatingblue

I am all for the drug testing, but I am curious as to how many slack parents would rather stay on the drugs than feed/provide for their children...

And children are the innocent pawns in all of this. These parents who are addicted will buy drugs before they feed their kids. They know that we know that and that we're the ones who will cave before they get straight.

If they can just get the kids to school age, they get free breakfast, free lunch, and then they get the after school programs where the first thing they get is a healthy "snack" which turns out to be the kid's dinner.

Frees up that WIC money for those drugs.

ThetaPrincess24 · #13 09-02-2009, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Educatingblue

I am all for the drug testing, but I am curious as to how many slack parents would rather stay on the drugs than feed/provide for their children...

You'd be suprised. Many, many are on drugs, but certainly not all. We had a few patients that wouldnt suprise me in the least to sell their children to perverts to get their next narcotic/meth fix or even something as small as a pack of cigarettes or a bottle of liquor to support their habits.

I am quite sure we also had a few who would litterally sell their children in an effort to get rich quick or to simply get rid of them.

There are some good people that are on welfare/government assistance that are legitimately on it and trying to better themselves to get off it. However, with my personal experience working with this population, most of what I saw was sheer laziness, stupidity, no ambition to do/get better, "the world owes me something" attitude, and in a few cases fraud. My former co-workers and I often commented to each other as to where these people got their logic from.

SydneyK · #14 09-02-2009, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ThetaPrincess24

However, with my personal experience working with this population, most of what I saw was sheer laziness, stupidity, no ambition to do/get better, "the world owes me something" attitude, and in a few cases fraud. My former co-workers and I often commented to each other as to where these people got their logic from.

I'm not sure where you are in KY, but my personal experience with the eastern part of the state (generalizing here - this definitely isn't the case with ALL eastern Kentuckians) suggests that another reason is an unwillingness to leave their hometown. It's difficult to find employment when the only employers in the county are a Frosty Freeze and the county school system. But it's funny - I once asked a EKY high school senior what he wanted to be "when he grew up" and he said, "A marine biologist." That's cool; where do you want to live - the east coast? west coast? His answer, "Well, I want to live here." Interesting. Just what kind of marine life can you study in a landlocked state? I've never seen such a reluctance to venture past the back yard as I did in eastern KY.

ThetaPrincess24 · #15 09-03-2009, 10:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SydneyK

I'm not sure where you are in KY, but my personal experience with the eastern part of the state (generalizing here - this definitely isn't the case with ALL eastern Kentuckians) suggests that another reason is an unwillingness to leave their hometown. It's difficult to find employment when the only employers in the county are a Frosty Freeze and the county school system. But it's funny - I once asked a EKY high school senior what he wanted to be "when he grew up" and he said, "A marine biologist." That's cool; where do you want to live - the east coast? west coast? His answer, "Well, I want to live here." Interesting. Just what kind of marine life can you study in a landlocked state? I've never seen such a reluctance to venture past the back yard as I did in eastern KY.

I live in Central KY now. I was raised in Eastern KY. I must agree with the hometown thing. Southcentral Kentucky is like that too. They will come to college, get a nice degree, then go home to podunk and wonder why they cant find a job---perhaps because the job you seek isnt there and would require you to go elsewhere in KY or outside the state?

The state and local governments also do a crappy job with trying to get industries/companies to come to these areas to help provide jobs for people and improve the standard of living. The I-75 interstate section that runs through this part of Kentucky is a major thoroughfare for drugs (mainly pot & meth) and human traffiking (hispanics). Meth. & narcotics are the major drug problems we have in Eastern & Southcentral KY.