Should Public Assistance Recipients Be Drug Tested?
In 2004, a report released by American Management stated that an estimated 62% of American businesses were participating in one form or another of drug testing on their employees. Most reported using both pre-employment testing, and random ongoing testing. What this means for the 154.9 million working Americans is, you have a very good chance of there being a drug test between you and your next pay check.
Drug testing on the civilian labor force began in the 80s and was primarily implemented because drug abuse costs American businesses an estimated $81 billion annually in lost productivity, and an estimated 300 percent increase in employer's medical services and benefits cost.
As of March, 2008, the Administration for Children and Families reported almost 4 million Americans on some form of public assistance, i.e welfare. In a related study in the 2007 American Journal of Public Health, studies showed that the proportions of welfare recipients using or abusing drugs were consistent with proportions of the general adult US populace and adults who were not on welfare. What this basically means is, people on welfare or no more, nor less, likely to use or abuse drugs than non welfare recipients or the general adult population of America. So why have we not implemented drug testing for welfare recipients?
The most common argument is because welfare isn't taxable income. But when you consider that welfare, and related benefits, are being granted to recipients to either supplement an existing low income, or make up for an absence of income - does the taxability of said supplement actually matter? It’s either a major, or sole, source of income for the recipient. In this respect, is welfare really all that different from the earnings of a civilian worker? Also, one must consider that the civilian worker who is being drug tested to earn his pay, is also a tax payer who contributes to the welfare system. Is it really fair to drug test him, and not the welfare recipient?
The second argument is, should the family suffer the loss of benefits because the case head was found to be using illegal drugs? To be fair, this same question should be ask concerning the loss of income to the family of a civilian worker who is found to be using illegal drugs. In the case of the civilian worker, the worker is fired and the family must seek an alternative means of support. In the case of the welfare recipient, the assistance should be temporarily suspended unless or until the case head can either pass a drug test or has voluntarily enrolled into a treatment program. The family of the case head and the civilian worker will suffer equally, with a loss of income and benefits. It would seem a stretch to think that one family is somehow more deserving of continued income and benefits than another.
The last argument is perhaps the hardest to settle. How would the American welfare system be able to afford the cost of drug testing? If the frequency of illicit drug abuse in welfare recipients is in line with that of the general American populace, it would be fair to assume that the increase in cost for medical related services and benefits for the medical providers such as Medicare and Medicaid for welfare recipients would also be in line with that of American businesses. Perhaps, a better question might be, how can the American welfare system not afford to implement drug testing? They might well find, as did the American businesses, that the long haul savings in medical related costs and benefits far surpass the cost of implementing drug testing.
References:
US Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration http://www.workplace.samhsa.gov/fedpgms/Pages/HHS_Mand_Guid_Effective_Nov_04.aspx
U.S. Department of Labor: www.dol.gov/asp/programs/drugs/workingpartners/stats/wi.asp
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) http://www.niaaa.nih.gov/NewsEvents/NewsReleases/welfare.htm
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Abuse Information, Workplace Resource Center: http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/features/workplace