Drug testing welfare recipients: Discuss

[Mystical]

I just wanna get this straight. Are they actually claiming victory because families with dependents won't be getting aid? Is this really a win?

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/56...p.html.csp
Data from Utah’s first year of screening welfare applicants for drug and alcohol abuse reveal that the Department of Workforce Services spent over $30,000 on surveys and drug tests but saved an estimated $369,000 in unpaid benefits because of the scores of applicants who walked away rather than submit to the scrutiny.

Rep. Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, sponsored HB155 last year, placing Utah among eight states that now link welfare assistance to drug testing in some way. The National Conference of State Legislatures website notes that 29 more states might follow suit.


Rep. Brad Wilson, R-Kaysville, sponsored HB155, which imposes drug screening requirements for welfare applicants. Wilson and state officials say the program has saved much more than it's cost by prodding some applicants to walk away rather than submit to the extra scrutiny.
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"Our goal isn’t to weed people out of the program but to get them the help they need," Wilson said Wednesday. "I’ve seen the devastating effects of drug addiction, and I know what an obstacle that can be for people to get back on their own two feet," Wilson added. "There are things we can do to help if those individuals are willing to help themselves."

Under the new law, people applying for Utah’s Family Employment Program (FEP) — part of the federally funded Temporary Aid For Needy Families (TANF) — must take the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory or SASSI test, a tool that identifies individuals who have a high probability of addictive behavior.

Tagged individuals may then be required to submit to a drug test. Those testing positive must undergo treatment to continue receiving FEP benefits for their households.

Agency data show that 1,020 of 4,730 FEP applicants scored high on the SASSI, 466 were drug tested and 12 tested positive. Just four sought treatment.

Each SASSI costs $1.25 — totalling $5,912.50 for 4,730 applicants. The actual drug testing cost $25,654 for a combined total of $31,566.50.

Some 247 high-probability applicants failed to comply with requirements and were barred from reapplying for aid for 90 days, DWS Public Information Officer Nic Dunn said.

Because the average three-person household receives $498 per month in cash assistance, agency officials calculated that total cost savings for the 247 turned-away applicants and their dependent children was $123,006 a month, or $369,018 for the three-month period they were prohibited from reapplying.

DWS has no way of knowing for sure how many in that group — largely made up of people failing to register for tests or failing to show up for screening — were abusing drugs or alcohol, Dunn added.

[freedomfromforum]

It is the American government's way to punish those with the greatest need.
Truly a sad story.

[Brakeman]

Well, the fetuses have already passed the vagina, so the Tea baggers don't care anymore. If a child's mom or dad has a problem, then that is all the more reason to make the child's existence tougher and more painful.

[Mystical]

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All I can think about are those kids, who are going hungry. Because their parents are alcoholics and won't pass the test so they go home and drink some more. And those kids who know they're better off with their alcoholic parents than getting ass raped in the the foster system.

Maybe food stamps should be allocated to the children via school and the after school programs.

[Minimalist]

Are they actually claiming victory because families with dependents won't be getting aid?

It is a goal of the republicunts.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorial...1665.story

[Cinjin]

There's no easy answer when it comes to welfare because no matter what safeguards you put on the welfare system, people will always abuse it and take advantage when people in real need can't seem to get enough help.
People suck. They will always suck.


I'm against the drug testing simply because it's just too damn easy to get around and it only costs us more money to do them.

[pineapplebunnybounce]

This is ridiculous. People who need welfare to begin with can do without all these insecurities when applying for welfare. How would this help addiction? What's the follow up program if they find someone with drugs in their system? What if they just ate a poppy seed? With the excellent record of the justice system, what sort of guarantee do these people have that they would not be sent to jail?

This is too silly.

[Mystical]

In my eyes Utah just concretely proved how many children in their districts will be going hungry tonight. Sad. Maybe a few of those parents will re-evaluate their lives (the article says four actually sought treatment out of 477). Maybe they'll realize their addictions are keeping their children impoverished. But I doubt it, based on human nature thus far observed: they'll do more drugs, and find other (not so legal) ways to bring in income. And they'll still conclude that their kids are better off with them living in destitution than foster care, which would be pretty accurate up until the point that they can't feed their own children. Now it'll be 800/mo paid to strangers to take care of the kids (if they're lucky and aren't thrown in a community style living), plus food stamps. Makes total sense, really. Maybe if the families were actually Told that they can receive benefits and undergo treatment they'd be more open and less frightened (read the entire news article). But I doubt it. In all honesty Alcoholism is not illegal. The fact that the government is making it an offense worthy of taking someone's Rights to social security services away is quite ridiculous considering that same government gets taxes on the alcohol consumption by those same people. Utah in and of itself has so many illegal families receiving food stamps it's retarded (specifically Mormon polyamoury relationships). All I see is the already downtrodden getting even more downtrodden here. It's not illegal to drink alcohol (or smoke weed in some states. You're advocating perfectly legal activitied citizens being tested for illegal offenses in exchange for their citizen-given right to social security aid. Granted, I don't think cash should be given out. Only food stamps, only utilities aid or gas stipends. But in all reality all this is going to do is equate to empty childrens stomachs and stress out even more alcoholic drug using parents. I'd be totally in support of this plan of action if alcohol was illegal, or if food banks received that amount of money to support those families' survivals. As it is, they spent 30k to prove 4 people are users and to scare off another 270 some odd families without any drug treatment or alcohol treatment resolution whatsoever. You're right. Yay.

(to my cousin who thought she'd rub in her pro drug testing stance to me who posted that meme above on my FB)

[freedomfromforum]

<snip> http://atheistforums.org/thread-21431-po...#pid525040
People suck. They will always suck.

This is a dangerous construct. Reconsider

[Drich]

This is awesome! They should make this a nation wide policy.

It pushes people to reconcile or at least deal with their drug problems on one level or another, rather than enable them to continue unchecked. The rest of soceity WORKS under these conditions, why should the poor or even working poor not be subject to these very same rights and responsiablities?