Drug Testing and Public Assistance

The last major public assistance program is General Assistance which is a program that provides help for people who do not qualify for other areas of federal assistance. Each state has their own requirements for eligibility for general assistance services. This program

SNAP is the foundation of nutrition assistance programs. This program provides over 47 million individuals in nearly 23 million low-income households. The eligibility is not restricted to certain groups of individuals, and because of this, SNAP serves a vast amount of families with children, elderly people, and individuals with disabilities. Others eligible for SNAP include families with adults who work in low-wage jobs, unemployed workers, and those with a fixed income. The SNAP Program assists about 72 percent of people who live in households with children. Nearly 25 percent of households with seniors and individuals with disabilities, are also assisted (Rosenbaum, 2013).

The United States has many welfare programs, such a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) that provide social welfare payments to those in need. Often, these benefits are abused by drug users those who lack the ability or motivation to find employment and become self-sufficient. As a result, several states have attempted to implement drug testing as a requirement to receive benefits. Proponents of drug testing believe that incorporating drug testing into the welfare systems allows the government to provide those with drug addictions the needed treatment and suspend the benefits from those who continue to use drugs and test positive after treatment. They also claim that in the long

In 2010, 17.5% of unemployed adults collecting some sort of welfare failed drug tests. In 2011, 23.8% of welfare recipients admitted to using illegal drugs, including marijuana. The problem the United States if facing is that welfare recipients are using the cash they are given to purchase illegal drugs. Many of these people purchasing illegal drugs had prior illegal drug abuse problems and some of these people believe that since they are given this “free” money, they can continue on with these addictions instead of finding the help they need to get back onto their own two feet. Many employers ask all of their job applicants for a drug test to even be considered for the job, so why shouldn’t the government ask the same for people looking

Over the years welfare has been provided to several people who cannot support themselves. This system was originally invented to help those who lost jobs or were not making the minimal salary required to support them. Recently, several American citizens have begun to raise questions about drug users and welfare. Debate soon broke out in 1996 causing several states to take drug testing into consideration. Welfare drug testing can only take place in certain situations: the state must have a law for drug testing, only when there is suspicion of drug use, and if the supreme court passes a law requiring it.

The process of drug testing individuals who are applying or receiving welfare benefits has recently become the focus of a widely spread controversy. Florida, the first state to pass the law, now requires all individuals applying for public assistance to undergo drug testing. The state of Kentucky, among others, have considered following this trend. State lawmakers hope to prevent the squandering of taxpayer dollars on drugs by proposing similar guidelines. Alabama’s states representative Kerry Rich clearly affirmed his state’s position on the matter, “I don’t think the taxpayers should have to help fund somebody’s drug habit” (qtd. in Time).

United States lawmakers face one of the most pressing issues of our time-welfare reform. New screening processes, often considered a direct violation of constitutional rights, have already been enacted in many states. Strong evidence exists, asserting that the practice of administering drug testing to welfare recipients will cost the U.S. taxpayers more money in the long run, stigmatize applicants and participants, and serve only the purpose of making the pharmaceutical companies more powerful. In order to protect the constitutional rights of potential welfare recipients, United States lawmakers should avoid further criminalizing the poor by submitting them to drug testing and/or a nationwide welfare registry.

Public assistance in America came about in 1935 when the Social Security Act was passed. This act remains the most significant piece of social legislations ever enacted in the United States. It also paved the way for greater federal involvement in health and welfare (Ambrosino, Ambrosino, Heffernan, Shuttlesworth, 2016). There are three main aspects of the Social Security Act, such as Social Insurance, Public Assistance and Health and Welfare Services. Out of those three aspects, I will be talking about Public Assistance or better known as welfare. There are different benefit programs of public assistance such as Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Food Assistance, also known as food stamps or the

In the United States the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is regulated and funded by policies made by our elected officials. The authors at the Food Research & Action Center complied the percentages of participants in the SNAP program by state and compared that to the national average. Maine households participating in SNAP is 15% and nationally it is 13% of the population.1 Focusing on our home state, Maine has 104,115 households and 199,689 individuals with SNAP.2 Working in a state with a higher percentage of SNAP participants than nationally, we need to direct our focus on making sure this program works well for those in need. To regulate this program, policies are made to assure the program is reaching its full potential.

Drugs administered in a physician’s office and certain cancer drugs are covered by the Medicare Plan B. more than 60% of the new cancer diagnosis occur among the elderly hence chemotherapy and oncology drugs are covered in Medicare Part B.

If the drug testing is implemented, of course, there will always be those who feel violated, but what about the taxpayer’s rights? Do they have that right to know how their money is being spent? The problem with this development is there are so many ways to cheat and test clean. In theory that is true, but in reality not so sure because there are different types of testing. The main one is urinating in a cup and we all know that can be tampered with, but what about the hair strand, how is that possible to cheat (Castleman-MacDonald)?

In a report authored by Kathleen FitzGerald and Emily Holcombe of CBO’s Budget Analysis Division and Molly Dahl and Jonathan Schwabish of CBO’s Health and Human Resources Division, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP) and associated costs were explained in detail. At the point in history that this report was written (2012) Congress was demanding an explanation of the increased cost of the SNAP program, this report was able to use data to directly link the increased spending to the unemployment rate, caused by the national economic crisis.

In the early 1980’s Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1985 made individuals who have three or more convictions for certain drug-related offenses permanently ineligible for various federal benefits. In 1996, Congress is when the thought process of drug testing for public assistance started. However, the years, these programs have been denied repeatedly. At the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in 2011 thirty six states put forth proposals around drug testing of public aid and food stamp (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP) recipients; however, only three states enacted legislation; Azizona, Flordia, and Missouri. In 2012, twenty-eight states set

Meth, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin are among the top drugs that many people use and utilized as money making tactics. As we all know, drugs are found and they are heavily used in low income areas, not only do they pose a significant effect on one’s health but they pose a significant effect on our economy. Generally it is perceived that those who reside in low income areas are the ones who resort to drugs, evidently they are. Likewise, they are also the ones who are utilizing government assistance programs. Some of these programs include; health care, child care, ebt benefits, and even housing assistance programs. So the big question is “Should people who receive government assistance undergo drug tests?”

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, otherwise known as SNAP, originates from the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933. It was established in the Great Depression era as the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation when crop prices fell drastically and farms were struggling to deal with the excess supply. The Federal government bought the surplus as discounted prices and distributed them to hunger relief agencies. In 1939 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal program, the Food Stamp Plan was created by Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace to formalize the food distribution efforts. Although this initial program ceased in 1943 because of a decrease in the number of people living in poverty, it was reintroduced in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy through a food stamp pilot program. In 1964, the Food Stamp Act was passed by President Lyndon Johnson. This program required the purchase of “stamps” based on the participant’s income level to permit the purchase of low-cost nutritional food. After a program revision in 1977 which ended the requirement for participants to purchase stamps, a nutritional educational program called SNAP-Education was added to the food stamp program in 1981. This program allowed states to apply for matching funds from the Federal government to deliver nutrition education to eligible persons. In the 1990s, efforts were made to streamline administration of the program which included the introduction of an Electronic Benefit