DRUGS: Those applying for welfare should not be subjected to drug testing.
Emilie Bean, Opinions Editor
Welfare was designed to help people out of the rut they have found themselves in and get back into the working, money-earning world of corporate America. The idea of welfare is a grand one, but who pays for the poor to get back on their feet? The answer is everyone else who does his or her duty as an American and pays taxes. The system would work fine if the tax payers did not suspect those on Welfare of being addicted to drugs. No one in his or her right mind wants hard-earned money to be used to pay illegal drugs, so many are demanding Welfare recipients to be drug tested.
Well, you can add this to your list of subjects not to be brought up at a dinner party. This issue has spread across America like wildfire, apt to spring an argument wherever the topic arises. When it came up in the Republican presidential campaign, Mitt Romney called it an “excellent idea,” and while many Republicans (and even some Democrats) are jumping on the drug testing bandwagon, the rest of the world is asking three questions: will it be effective, is it constitutional and will it save money? The many Americans on board with the idea will surely be disappointed when they come to realize that the answer is no.
To just assume that everyone who is applying for welfare is a drug addict is a little presumptuous. “This legislation assumes suspicion on this group of people, it assumes that they’re drug abusers,” State Representative W. Patrick Goggles said during a debate on the Wyoming measure. Just because someone is poor does not mean he or she is using illegal substances. There is not even any real evidence that Welfare recipients are taking drugs.
According to the St. Petersburg Times, only 32 out of 7,000 of those who took a drug test as part of Florida’s welfare requirements last year failed. Even though less than one half of one percent of people were tested as drug users, about three dozen states, including Georgia, Wyoming and Mississppi have taken up similar laws. However, it is not likely their numbers will differ from Florida’s. “Not only is it unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy, but it doesn’t save money, as was proposed,” Derek Newton, the communications director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida, said. He is not the only one who believes the drug testing is unconstitutional. Many argue that it violates the Fourth Amendment because the law prohibits unreasonable search by the government. Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper, Jr. brought to light the fact that states are not allowed to impose their own eligibility requirements for most forms of federally funded public assistance. Even in instances when drug testing is allowed, there must be a reasonable suspicion about an individual before that person can be tested.
Drug testing welfare recipients may seem fair and just to those who have to succumb to the random drug tests their day jobs require, but in the end it is more trouble than it is worth, especially in the financial department. When Florida passed its law to drug test welfare recipients, they promised that it would lower taxes. This gained the law support from the general public but evidence soon showed that drug testing actually cost more than not administering them at all. The test itself costs applicants $30 to take, and by law, those who passed had to be reimbursed for the amount, making the cost to the state a whopping $118,140. This is said to be more than what would have been paid out in benefits to the people who failed the test. The testing ended up costing the government an extra $45,780.
Those who want drug testing for people on welfare in order to cut down on taxes should take another look at Florida’s failure. Making a law requiring drug tests for people who seek welfare benefits will not result in direct savings, it will not bring loads of drug users (if any) to justice and it is not constitutional.
Some complain that if they have to get drug tested for their jobs, then those who are on Welfare should be drug tested too. That may sound like the right approach, but it is primarily a self-centered one. People can stomp their feet and complain about what is fair and what is not all day long, but that selfishness is what leads to a country’s demise.
Americans have to put the country before their own personal ideals about what is fair.
Not only will drug testing welfare users not help anything, but it also has the potential to hurt our already unstable economy.