Drug Testing Welfare Recipients - Drug Testing For Welfare

Some states in the United States of America have enacted or proposed legislation requiring drug testing of people applying for welfare. As of March 2014, laws requiring applicants to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to be drug tested have been enacted in at least nine different states.

Arguments for

Proponents of such laws have supported them with a variety of goals in mind, including getting help for drug users on public assistance and avoiding "subsidizing drug habits" with public money.

Arguments against

Opponents have criticized these laws for costing more money than they save. Eric Liu has criticized drug tests of welfare recipients, which are often promoted by Republican lawmakers, as hypocritical, as they promote government paternalism. Executives of the non-profit group CLASP have stated that the laws will have a chilling effect on the willingness of existing welfare recipients to admit themselves to drug treatment. Additionally, public policy professor Harold Pollack wrote that "Other physical and mental health problems are far more prevalent. Yet these less-moralized concerns receive much less attention from legislators or the general public." The American Civil Liberties Union has opposed welfare drug testing laws in Florida and expressed concern about the proposal gaining traction in other states. Almost all scholarly articles on the subject of suspicionless drug testing of welfare recipients has concluded that this testing violates the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Laws by state

Arizona

In 2009, Arizona became the first state to enact a drug-testing law for welfare applicants.

Florida

In December 2013, federal judge Mary Stenson Scriven struck down a Florida law, passed in May 2011, that required welfare recipients to be drug tested before they could receive benefits. Rick Scott, the governor of Florida, had endorsed the legislation, and said he intended to appeal Scriven's decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals.

Georgia

In April 2014, Georgia governor Nathan Deal signed a bill requiring drug testing for welfare applicants whom state employees suspected had been using drugs.

Michigan

In December 2014, Rick Snyder, the governor of Michigan, signed a bill beginning a pilot program whereby welfare recipients in three Michigan counties will be drug tested if they are suspected of having used drugs.

Utah

From August 2012 to July 2013, Utah spent over $30,000 on drug testing welfare applicants. State officials stated in September 2013 that the program had saved more than $350,000.

Wisconsin

Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, has endorsed drug testing for welfare recipients.

Drug usage rates

In Utah, 2.6% of welfare applicants tested positive, which is considerably lower than the national average of 8.9%. A 2015 study by ThinkProgress found that out of seven states reporting data on welfare drug testing, only one had a usage rate above 1%.

References