Should Welfare Recipients Be Required to Take Drug Tests?

Well why can't they be caught thats not excactly invisablee.

yeah

Certainly. If your not going to use the money to better yourself....then you do not deserve the money to begin with.

Too many dopers are using foodstamps to buy drugs. Also I believe they should do this test, because their just a lost cause and a drain on the American taxpayer.

where can you use a ebt card to buy dope just curious? I dont know of anywhere if someone walked in to the winn-dixie or the piggly wiggly and said here is my ebt card I want to buy some dope they would be locked up LMAO I dont know drug addicts so I'm not sure where you can do these types of things.

WOW! You are very naive. People TRADE their ebt cards for the drugs.

Yeah right! You know how much drug dealers love to be paid in groceries! .....
I'm not suggesting it never happens but I do think it's probably pretty rare.

You are worse than naive, you are dumb. They trade EBT cards for money, then use that money to buy drugs.

Dumbass.

It should be a must!

As someone who was in the system for a year, I say YES. Many places drug test to get a job, why not drug test to get benefits?

Exactly!

But there needs to be a mechanism for the druggies to become clean, without starving the kids in the process.

welfare can also very much support buisnesses

Yes, that was what worried me too. I don't want the kids to suffer, but if the parent fails the test, a relative or foster parents could take the children. Maybe that would make a parent clean up, but sadly, I doubt it.

I say no because after all the thousands that have been taken out of my husbands lifetime of earnings, and now we need help because his annual income has went from $50k+ to $9k a year. No one needed to be tested for them take that money for others, if our family of 3 now needs help as much as we put in, we shouldn't need to be tested.

So because others didn't, you shouldn't have to? That makes no sense. If you and your husband aren't doing drugs, then what do you fear? And if you are, well, you're spending your money on drugs instead of what welfare is paying. (no, I'm not accusing you of being on drugs, just making a point)

And, yeah, I've been there, too, and we'd have gladly taken the drug tests to get the benefits.

I shouldn't have to prove nothing to any one just because we are down on our luck! My husband is a certified CNC Machinist and has made over 20 bucks per hour but in 2006 he was out of luck on finding a job after a lay off, we took the 8500 bucks we had in the bank and moved to Alabama, same jobs here paid $10.00 - 12.00 per hour and there are 3 shops that well weren't hiring, so we put ads on craigslist and get jobs to repair automobiles and he works odd jobs at a junk yard and is enrolled in college now for 2 years in Criminal Justice, Forensics, Law Enforcement, Psychology, etc. He is going through the process now to get in to the local PD so he will be drug tested, as well as a physical agility test, lie detector test, which you are asked a multiple of questions about drugs use, buying or selling them, and we wont need help no more. My point is just this just cause you are not doing good in your life it doesn't make you a drug addict, that to me is like an accusation. This is my opinion, yours is yours!

Exactly, he's going to have to take a drug test to get a job. To get paid. By your own logic, just because you're trying to get a new job doesn't mean you're a drug addict. You get what I'm saying? Believe it or not, I'm not picking a fight - just trying to make a point. Good people get drug tested for all sorts of things. I think of welfare like a job (in that you get paid) and if you get drug tested for a job and don't get pissed, why get pissed when being drug tested for welfare?

The sad truth is that there are many on welfare who are on drugs. But if they were forced into rehab or be taken off welfare, then there would be more assistance for families like yours and mine that found themselves in a bind and just needed a little help getting back on your feet. I promise, drug tests for welfare aren't an attack on the average family on welfare, just those who abuse the system...and drugs.

see I guess its cause I dont know any one who really does drugs and gets welfare, I know someone who I suspect they smoke pot but hell they run their own business! but my friends who have kids with dead beat dads who dont pay and they are working but need the food stamps they dont use drugs most dont even drink, i'm not a drinker though I pick people for friends more like myself.

I do want to say though if welfare is like a job where you get paid then when you do them 40 hours a week per adult of work first that is mandatory on Alabama.gov's website then 2 adults giving 320 hours a month sitting some where because they say you have to sit there for these hours to get less than 60cents an hour each. you can look that info up pick a state and go to the states .gov site to get that little bit of money that wont even pay an electric bill here lol our last months normal bill was 240.00 plus cost of gas to drive there its not like a job where you get paid lol by any means I just had to say that. I am gonna do some looking at California next and see what their site says. I do need help here but we get NO cash just Medicaid for my son and a small amount of stamps on ebt card. Not no hundreds like people say you get. it shows even on there site for family of 3 with income limits less than 1500.00 in earnings a month you get 526 but its not true we get just a little over 150 a month, I am grateful but I also feel like we put in, now we need help.

Welfare should never be compared to a full time job. If it is a full time job, someone is abusing the system.

I don't get the point of your whole scenario, since you're getting the money without having to give any of the time you're going on about. That's just it, you get the welfare (whatever kind) without having to actually /do/ anything. If you're out actually doing something and getting a paycheck for it, you likely had to have a drug test for that job. Why should welfare be any different?

You answered the last question in your reply in the very first sentence of your reply.

thats not enough money to expect drug testing,you are not in this nice jobMaam some people find it hard to except welfaare as it is and we've tried for years to make sure everybody doese and is o.k. wE don't need them feeling funny over this and say one more thing we really have to keep people off of the streets Or you being angry off drug testing because you r a working human being that will get raises and and other opurtunity and pay increases,experiance for a better job,promos and everything else you get this now powerful feeling over paying taxes for people on welfare,when I don't know if you wwere ever on it but others were and forget what they were talking about and how they were feeling about folks who talk like you.I'm not jumping on you ,but I just feel this way about this subject.And if there is drug addicts you don'twant them to give up welfare,theyre kids get at least something from it,thank you!

I understand that it's hard to accept welfare - we went hungry for months before our pride could no longer keep our bellies from hurting. So dismissing my comments because you disagree with them (at least that's what I'm assuming you're doing - it's really hard to tell when you don't use punctuation and all). I don't have a job, I'm a homemaker - I damn sure don't think I'm better than anyone or have power over anyone, so stop making assumptions about me. When I was on SNAP, I was willing to subject myself to drug tests, whatever it took, once I let my pride get from between me and accepting help.

And we haven't been off SNAP for more than six months. Zbacku says exactly the point I'm making.

Listen, if you apply for a job, you have to take a drug test. What's the difference.

Alot more comes with a job,And jobs are private or company employers either way that is to also keep the public,other coworkers and theyre company and reputatin for self o.k. and safe.The law is that for jobs your employer can drug test you and some are manditory,we can't have you working Machinery or driving under the influence.It also keeps you safe.Money you may loose if you work a cashier or bank.

Yeah, jobs come with perks. So does welfare, since you get a paycheck that doesn't require time put on a clock. You're accepting help from the government, you should be held at least to the standard that a job would.

You have a fundamental misunderstanding of what welfare is. If a recipient could meet the standards of a job, they probably wouldn't need welfare. Oh yeah, and the pay isn't comparable either.

Actually, no, I don't. I've been there. It's funny you say that *I* have a misunderstanding of welfare - plenty of people have to receive it because they jobs they are working aren't currently meeting their needs. And it doesn't matter if the pay is comparable, either. Working for McDonald's the pay isn't comparable to working a desk job, but you're held to several of the same standards - including drug testing.

You don't have to take a drug test for every job. The difference is that when you are applying for a job the employer is trying to make sure you are healthy and capable of doing the job they will pay you for. When you are applying for welfare you are not trying to prove you are capable of performing specific tasks, you are asking for help. it is understood that you are likely facing some adversity that has rendered you less capable than you might otherwise be.

It's not about you it's about the system being abused by the inter city drug users. Why is everything about me, me, me? Why are you afraid of your husband being drug tested? Is your husband on drugs?

There are abusers in every part of this country, not just the inner cities (by the way, it's ok to say black). There are many more Meth heads these days than crack heads. But I do happen to agree it is an excellent law.

of corse he does. americans work hard for their money. i refuse to pay for some loser on drugs.

Do you drink beer?

nope

Bravo! Test all lawmakers before they can vote on any bills.

excactley,and I'm sorry if your offended.Thats true

Im all for i have seen it so much here in nj people spend all there cash on drugs and they also sell there food stamps ive seen it first hand the same person on the street corner buying heroin comes onto the welfare office babys in tracked up arms asking for money. im not saying we shouldnt help them direct them to rehabs and counseling. Its not helping the drug addicts by givong them money I know.

i have to take a drug test to keep my job. so government can tax me and give that money to people on welfare who are to lazy to work. but thepeople who are supporting their local drug dealer must be tested. and if found out to be dirty. then no money.

There's something people aren't taking into consideration. False positives. We use to see a lot of them where I used to work. Type 1 diabetics, Systemic Lupus patients, patients with kidney or liver damage, transplant recipients, and cancer patients can all trigger a false positive result for narcotics and opiates. Also, many over the counter medicines (including allergy medicine), herbal supplements and vitamins (such as B12), and foods can also trigger a false positive result for a variety of drugs on a drug test. All you small minds need to think of the big picture. Are you ready to starve or neglect children because their mother takes her B12 every day, but, a drug test says she's smoking pot? Their mother took an OTC allergy medication, but, her drug test says she's doing meth? Their mother is in renal failure, but, her drug test says she's speedballing? Their mother had just had a poppy seed bagel, but, her drug test says she's doing heroin? I don't want that on my conscience