Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger
I have seen the suggestion before that Welfare recipients need to be drug tested to make sure that taxpayers are not paying for the drug habits of those evil poor people. I have even seen relatives allude to it in messages on social media sites and I have witnessed friends championing the idea in personal emails. I always wondered why some people think that the poor must be abusing the state and federal aid programs and therefore must have drug tests to insure that the taxpayers money is not being wasted. While I agree that taxpayers money should not be wasted, I have not seen any benefit from forcing people to be drug tested before they receive their aid payments.
The State of Florida tried this from 1999 to 2001 and reintroduced it in 2011. The Florida plan was subsequently struck down by the courts because there was no evidence that poor people abused drugs more often than their wealthier counterparts. “The state of Florida passed an almost identical testing procedure that ran from 1999 to 2001 and was reintroduced in July of 2011 that was struck down by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta the following month, citing the fact: ‘ “there is nothing inherent to the condition of being impoverished that supports the conclusion that there is a `concrete danger’ that impoverished individuals are prone to drug use.” ‘ Crooks and Liars Does it surprise you that it took the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals before this expensive and intrusive process was ended in Florida?
The Florida experience proved to be a costly waste of taxpayers money according to the Tampa Tribune. “The Tampa Tribune investigated the results of those July 2011 drug tests and found that “96 percent proved to be drug free”, another 2 percent never bothering to complete the lengthy application process, and 2 percent actually failing drug testing. At an average cost of $30 per test, the state was hemorrhaging tax dollars at a rate of “$28,800-$43,200 monthly”… FAR out pacing the supposed “savings” from preventing drug-abusers from gaming the system to buy drugs.” Crooks and Liars The failure of this idea in Florida did not prevent or dissuade the Texas State Senate from unanimously passing an even more draconian plan to screen and drug test welfare recipients.
“On Wednesday, the Texas State legislature, currently composed of 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats, unanimously passed Senate Bill 11, which mandates that every Texan applying for food assistance through the TANF (Texas Assistance for Needy Families) program, submit to an undefined “screening process” and possible drug test before receiving benefits if the screener finds “good cause” to even suspect that person is… or is likely to… abuse any “controlled substance” — despite the fact that there is no evidence at all that people seeking assistance are more likely to do drugs.
According to the bill’s author, Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound), the purpose of the bill: ‘ “It ensures that TANF, formerly known as welfare, supports its core purpose of helping families to achieve self-sufficiency,” said Nelson, as she introduced the bill. “We found common ground to support a plan that makes sure state resources aren’t used to support a drug habit while at the same time making sure children receiving benefit in a productive environment.” ‘ Crooks and Liars
I can only assume that the venerable Texas State Senators failed to read about the experience this type of plan had in Florida or merely discounted the facts available to them. Is there a reason why politicians of all stripes jump on the bandwagon that claims the poor and needy are just lazy and may even be on illegal drugs and therefore do not deserve the help of their fellow citizens? These same Texas Senators ignored the Houston Chronicle which published an article critical of SB11 and other proposed bills designed to root out those drug abusing poor people out of their assistance programs.
“Four times during last week’s House Human Services Committee meeting, Rep. Scott Turner asked whether Texas has a problem with parents diverting assistance dollars for food and children to buy drugs. Agency officials could tell the Frisco Republican only that they do not test recipients, and few people lose their benefits because of drug convictions or tips that can be corroborated. ” Houston Chronicle
The Chronicle discussed a similar plan in Michigan that was struck down by a State court for being unconstitutional and the plan in Florida discussed above. According to the Chronicle there are seven other states with similar drug testing of welfare recipients programs. ” Seven states have enacted similar measures – all but two require risk screening before drug testing – and another 29 states are considering legislation this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Three Texas bills propose testing some applicants for state unemployment benefits rather than TANF applicants.” Houston Chronicle
Just where does this pervasive fear that the unemployed or impoverished are stealing from the public in order to support their drug habits? Does this relate to the old “welfare queen” meme? Is it related to the attempt by some state legislatures to pass voter ID laws to prevent non-existent voter fraud?
As usual, it seems that the politicians are unfazed by the fact that the poor do not use drugs any more than the middle class or the wealthy. Growing up my family received Veterans benefits and Social Security benefits that kept us from ending up on the street. Today, these onerous screening and drug testing programs would have forced my Mother to be tested before she could receive her check which paid for the housing and food for herself and her 5 young children. Remind me again, why is this a good idea?
Additional References: ACLU;
LIKE I SAID. START THE VOUCHER DEAL. NOTHING IS PERFECT. BUT THANX. NONE THE LESS. I DON’T LIKE SEEING ANYTHING WASTED. MONEY OR OTHERWISE. ARE YOU PAYING TAXES?
If you work for your money and hate to see it wasted, consider that when Utah started drug testing welfare recipients statewide, they caught a grand total of 12 people.
JUST ME
good for you. 🙄
I HAD TO WORK FOR MY MONEY. AND I SEE TOO MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER WORKED A DAY IN THEIR LIFE AND RECEIVING GOV. BENIFITS AND BLOWING IT ON GAMBLING, BOOSE, AND DRUG. THIS IS NOT WHAT THE HELP IS FOR. SOME OF THESE PEOPLE I KNOW PERSONALLY ARE DRUG INDUSED DISABLED AND GETTING BENIFITS THEY NEVER WORKED FOR. WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT? I PAYED TAXES SO THEY CAN BE TAKEN CARE OF. WRRRRRONG. i SEE THIS SHIT RIGHT ALL THE TIME. WE HAVE NO PERFECT SYSTEM BUT SOMETHING HAS GOT TO GIVE. HELP THOSE WHO NEED IT BUT THAT IS WHERE IT STOPS. INSTEAD OF SENDING THOSE CHECKS MAYBE THE GOV. COULD JUST SEND PAPER VOUCHER S FOR THE RENT AND FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS MUST SHOW ID AND FOR THE REST DO VOUCHERS. THAN NO MONEY PASSES THROUGH THESE PEOPLES HANDS. I HAD TO WORK FOR THE MONEY I AM GETTING.
Ava James,
show us your evidence of your claims! The facts presented above tell a different picture than your claims. The abuse of the system is less than the cost to drug test people against their will.
As a tax payer I agree with Florida making people who get government assistance getting drugged tested. I would much rather my tax money be spent on drug testing people then giving people money to be a druggie. I think people should be randomly drug tested so they don’t know when they will have to take the test so that they can’t find away to pass the test. How many people know people who have known about a drug test and passed it with using someone else’s urine or fake urine. I mean I know were I live there are a lot of people who are on drugs that live in government housing for very little money and use drugs daily. Or who live with the mother of there children and have a job making $13.00 a hour and are getting all kinds of assistance. I mean people open your eyes not everyone is taking advantage of the system but a lot are.
Gary-Mr Infinity,
as I asked above, where is your evidence of your claims? Are some people abusing food stamps and welfare. Sure, but the numbers are small. The drug testing scam is just a ruse to rile up the masses. Where is your passion concerning the Trillions used to bail out the banks?
It may be a far sighted step to check welfare recipients but you also don’t do much investigation on how many food stamp receipients sell their food stamps to go out and gamble, buy cigarettes and drugs. And some have 2 or 3 other people in the house living with them who are working and split the rent into nothing. THIS ISN’T THE WAY OF THE MAJORITY BUT THE AMOUNT OF ABUSE NEEDS TO BE REMOVED SO THE TRUE NEEDY PEOPLE CAN LIVE !!!
Joy,
You need to move to MA, where we are run by chronic liber Democrats, who pour out monies to anyone, except for hard working people. We literally are a sanctuary State, with lots of officially deemed Sanctuary Cities (Cambridge being the latest example in the news, but even they found that their self-described SC status didn’t make sense, when no one wanted the body of Terrorist Bomber #1, not even them, and he was a resident of said city. BE prepared to come with TONS of money, though, because the cost of living is sky high, compared to FL, and a lot of that cost is for hand-out programs (I am NOT against a truly needy person getting temp. assistance, to make sure they are not losing a home, or starving, etc., given BO’s miserable amount of time “creating jobs” – yeah, remember that promise? Now, he’s spent most of his second term campaigning for the gun laws, when we have laws on the books that are not enforced. He’s also busy with this amnesty nonsense……….so not only is he not concentrating on ‘creating jobs’, but he’s wanting to allow tons more people in the Country (yes, it’s not just the ones already here who have broken law #1, and are soon to be rewarded for that) per year, so I’m not sure what jobs they will get………..I could go on and on, but I won’t.
kate,
I don’t know which comment you are referring to, but I could not find the one that you are responding to. I do think you may want to review history and you will see that once the schools were required to teach to the test, as detailed in No Child Left Behind, the dumbing down has increased. Private schools and even Charter schools have their place, but they should not be receiving public money.
RE: comment about Jeb Bush ‘giving to charter schools, while letting the public ones fail’ my words, since it was like 200 comments ago. ….NOT SO….public schools have been failing and dumbing down requirements for decades, thus the NEED for Charter and taxpaying/school taxes/home schoolers and/or private schooling. Don’t reverse the order of history, please.
Josh,
You know nothing about my background. I asked for evidence, not your warped opinion.
Josh in Washington:
I meant to add the following. You should also read the cited cases to get an understanding of the issues and the interplay with the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments. http://jonathanturley.org/2011/06/05/35875/#more-35875
Josh,
That was complete and total gibberish, but it’s OK. No one will tell your English teacher.
Josh in Washington:
Like I said, do some reading. No one says there is a “right” to welfare under the Constitution. With all due respect, you really have no idea what you’re talking about.
nowhere in our Constitution does it say that we have the right there for that is a privilege much like driving a car you have to follow rules when you drive you should have to follow rules when you receive welfare
Mike S.:
I think the French would be quite annoyed if they discovered anyone trying to sell the Drus.
Mike A.,
Bingo.
I’m not sure how I’m damning my parents I can guarantee you that they would both pass a drug test had they been getting one. you fail to understand that I said we did not stay on welfare after we did not need it anymore. you spend way too much time on the internet I am my own person you are obviously not your own person I am proud to say that everything I have I earned I did not accept a handout from anybody I am NOT my parents I would have not done. however they did and it helped us and that’s great
Kathy Rhoten DeWitt:
Of course there are people on welfare who use drugs. There are people who receive social security disability benefits who are perfectly capable of working. There are innocent people in prison and there are criminals walking the streets. There does not exist an institution created by man that is impervious to fraud and abuse. However, we have determined that the protections we have under the Constitution are sufficiently important that we will tolerate a certain amount of abuse rather than curtail our freedoms. That is a fundamental truth which students ought to understand by the time they have graduated from middle school. The fact that these issues continue to be debated is a failure of basic education in civics.