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Gold Member
An inane, money-eating sham: Drug tests for welfare a huge failure
Drug tests for welfare is a huge waste. But if we’re testing those getting taxpayer money, how about politicians?
During the past year, the state of Utah has spent over $30,000 giving drug tests to welfare recipients. In that time period, only 2.6 percent of those tested were found to have used illegal substances — well below the national use rate of 8.9 percent. As in all eight states where drug tests are used to determine eligibility for government assistance, specifically Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Utah’s program was allegedly initiated on the grounds of saving the state money.
In 2009, Arizona was the first state to adopt a program that drug-tested recipients of welfare whom officials had “reasonable cause” to believe were using drugs. Besides stigmatizing recipients of government assistance, implying that they’re a group of no-good drug fiends, the bill was implemented to try rand resuscitate a failing budget, and Arizona officials believed that testing could save the state $1.7 million a year.
But in 2012, three years and 87,000 screenings later, only one person had failed a drug test. Total savings from denying that one person benefits? $560. Total benefits paid out in that time? $200 million. Even if we include the savings from cutting benefits to the 1,633 people who didn’t return the pre-test survey, it brings the total to only 0.1 percent of the amount distributed over that period.
An inane money-eating sham Drug tests for welfare a huge failure - Salon.com
Drug tests for welfare is a huge waste. But if we’re testing those getting taxpayer money, how about politicians?
During the past year, the state of Utah has spent over $30,000 giving drug tests to welfare recipients. In that time period, only 2.6 percent of those tested were found to have used illegal substances — well below the national use rate of 8.9 percent. As in all eight states where drug tests are used to determine eligibility for government assistance, specifically Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Utah’s program was allegedly initiated on the grounds of saving the state money.
In 2009, Arizona was the first state to adopt a program that drug-tested recipients of welfare whom officials had “reasonable cause” to believe were using drugs. Besides stigmatizing recipients of government assistance, implying that they’re a group of no-good drug fiends, the bill was implemented to try rand resuscitate a failing budget, and Arizona officials believed that testing could save the state $1.7 million a year.
But in 2012, three years and 87,000 screenings later, only one person had failed a drug test. Total savings from denying that one person benefits? $560. Total benefits paid out in that time? $200 million. Even if we include the savings from cutting benefits to the 1,633 people who didn’t return the pre-test survey, it brings the total to only 0.1 percent of the amount distributed over that period.
An inane money-eating sham Drug tests for welfare a huge failure - Salon.com