COMMENTARY | According to an article by the Associated Press, 23 states are currently pursuing laws that would require anyone who receives welfare assistance to undergo a drug test in order to receive benefits. Welfare recipients would have to pay for their own drug test, which would cost anywhere from $8-12, but if they pass the drug test, they will be reimbursed for the money spent on the test. Should a welfare recipient fail the drug test, they will be ineligible for public assistance until they are clean from drugs.
As Colorado state Rep. Jerry Sonnenburg rightfully contends: “if you have enough money to be able to buy drugs, then you don’t need the public assistance.”
If the working class has to be drug tested in order to earn their money, those receiving welfare should be drug tested to receive their checks. Nearly every profession requires drug testing — even new hires at retail giants like Walmart have to be drug tested in order to work.
Of course not every person who receives welfare assistance is on drugs, but for the ones who are, they are paying for their drugs with taxpayer money. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to fit the bill for illegal drugs — it’s bad enough we already fit the bill for prescription drug abuse paid for by taxpayer-funded medical cards.
Those who are opposed to drug testing welfare recipients claim that the laws would “stigmatize” welfare people. Union members have mandatory drug testing as a requirement for employment, yet they are not stigmatized as being probable drug addicts. Members of our military are routinely tested for drugs and nobody thinks ill of our soldiers. If drug testing is a routine step in the employment process, it should become a routine step in the welfare assistance program.
If welfare recipients have a problem being drug tested for their benefits, then let them find a minimum wage job that will likely require drug testing as well, and leave the taxpayer-funded government assistance for those who wouldn’t mind taking a drug test for a meal — like starving children in Africa or Haiti.