"We don't want people who are abusing drugs to be on welfare," GOP state Rep. John Kavanagh told the Arizona Republic in 2009, "because that means that the taxpayers are subsidizing and facilitating illegal drug use."
According to USA Today, more than 87,000 welfare recipients went through Arizona's program in the three years after it began. The total number of drug cheats caught was exactly one - a single positive result, which saved the state precisely $560.
Checking in again in March, the Arizona Sonora News Service cited state Department of Economic Security figures which found that over the course of more than five years, "42 people have been asked to take a follow-up drug test and 19 actually took the test, 16 of whom passed. The other 23 were stripped of their benefits for failing to take the drug test."
Since Arizona enacted its drug testing programs, at least six more states have implemented similar measures. In 2012, Utah began its own, which, according to the Daily Beast, nabbed 12 of 466 people tested at a cost to the state of $25,000.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
All the drug users moved to Schenectady where the officials: know nothing, see nothing, and hear nothing, run the welfare system.
Unless Schenectady is different from the rest of the USA, welfare ppl aren't using drugs, or they've figured out how to beat a drug test.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
Schenectady is different from the rest of the USA, Box. I thought you knew that. However, drug tests for welfare benefits is a non-issue, as chronic alcoholics and addicts were exempted from the welfare reform rules of the Clinton era, and adult chronic welfarites have been being moved to SSI or SSD for years now, which makes it that much harder for people with serious illnesses to obtain benefits. The Disability Trust Fund is going to run out of money in 2016, probably because of all the phony welfare reform. That could be why I've noticed anecdotal evidence of people on those benefits being encouraged to return to work. Also, the biggest reason the drug testing is stupid is that welfare recipients for the most part are children.
If they drug test for government welfare benefits.... then EVERY SINGLE person who receives ANY kind of government benefit needs to be drug tested.....yes? social security, social security disability, Medicaid, or anyone on obamacare for that matter, food stamps, section 8, heap, free cell phones....... that would be MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of folks.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
If they drug test for government welfare benefits.... then EVERY SINGLE person who receives ANY kind of government benefit needs to be drug tested.....yes? social security, social security disability, Medicaid, or anyone on obamacare for that matter, food stamps, section 8, heap, free cell phones....... that would be MILLIONS AND MILLIONS AND MILLIONS of folks.
Also every single person that gets a government paycheck should be tested.
Drug tests are a stupid expensive waste of time and violation of individual rights. If my business is a drug lab, I might have a legitimate concern. Other businesses, if the employee has a serious problem, you will have plenty of other reasons to fire them. Absenteeism, poor performance, etc. If you think you are protecting yourself from employees stealing from you by drug testing, you are probably dumb enough that you will not be in business long anyway. You can fail a drug test without being an illegal substance user, btw.
my point was.....you can't segregate one portion of folks that get government entitlements/benefits/wages without including ALL.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I guess what the pro-testing side thinks is that the rest of us are supporting people who cause their own problems by getting too high too often to hold down a job, so they should be kicked off and made to go to work. Most of those people aren't on welfare, in my experience. Many times they have kids that require public support though, and what is the point of drug testing the mothers of those kids? Spite, or shaming them?
Welfare drug testing just creates another government program, drug addiction treatment. It will also serve as good data for law enforcement to zero in a areas with high addiction rates. Then cops can target those neighborhoods and catch the addicts in possession of illegal drugs.
More government treatment programs, more targeted government policing, more money spent more people in jail.
The GOP is big on Drug Testing... even though they know it's a waste of taxpayer dollars. As with War On Women, they are trying to legislate their own values on others.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. John Kenneth Galbraith
If they can afford street drugs and alcohol, why must we support them with tax dollars?
We are advised NOT to judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works.
If they can afford street drugs and alcohol, why must we support them with tax dollars?
government drug testing is another issue all together. they can 'create' a positive or negative result on anyone they choose. just another created failed government program.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
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