States want to start drug testing welfare recipients

[Tailgate]

Why would one want to pay to have welfare receipients take drug tests to prove that they're taking drugs? Can't we just take their word for it?

 

[champion221elite]

I worked at a drug testing facility while I was putting myself through college, and I met all kinds of people with various drug problems. Most of these people were on probation/parole/ community corrections and were required to participate in drug testing to satisfy the terms of their probation.

Instant tests were $5 per test and they gave immediate results for THC, Opiates, Cocaine and Meth. A positive test would require the person to provide a second sample which would be sent out to a lab for additional testing.


Full screen tests were $15 each and they would test for more drugs and were also capable of determining the quantity of the drug. These tests took approximately 2-3 days to get the results back, and were tested by Redwood Lab's in California.

The infrastructure is already in place to administer these tests. Virtually every city across this nation has the ability to conduct these tests. The money spent to drug test welfare recipients will undoubtedly save taxpayer money in the long run since it will help eliminate folks who use drugs from the Welfare system.

 

[Cuba]

I disagree. Most state welfare offices are too busy to administer a drug test. Think about it, EACH community would have to set up a physical place to administer the test. I have no idea how many places that would be in Texas, probably 1,000+. Or another option is to outsource the testing to a place that prescreens for employers. I have no idea the cost but I bet it would be at least $100 to $150 per test. If 300,000 people are on welfare and they have 1 test a month, that is 3,600,000 tests in a year. Assume $100 a test and that is $360,000,000 million a year!!!! Now that that number an multiply it by 20 or more. Please tell me how spending that kind of money get people off of welfare? I would rather you just give them the money. It is a waste of time and money.

Every welfare office in America comes equipped with a bathroom! Remember that the prices are far less when you talk about that sort of volume. If a company had the Dept of Welfare as a client they could sell at a rediculusly low margin and still make a mint. It would cost you two drug tests to get 9 months of unemployment payments off your expenses. You aren't quite grasping the scale of welfare and unemployment costs here. In 2006 the direct cost (not including indirect costs, or opportunity cost dealing with the fact that these members of society are drawing from it rather than contributing to it) for just welfare was $354.3 billion, or a full 2.7% of GDP. That is an insane number, and that was during a time of great economic success. Now the unemployment numbers have almost doubled, the president has announced virtually unending unemployment benefits for all, and tax revenues are down. Point being, it's a much larger number today. The cost of drug testing would be a drop in the bucket even if it did not contribute to lessening the duration and quantity of benefits recipients. My point is that it would greatly reduce both the quantity and duration of benefits. It would pay for itself in year one.

You could simply deduct the cost of the test from the benefits, come in once a month, pee in cup, collect check. Simple. And don't worry about staffing issues, welfare offices are literally the only state agencies hiring right now (I know this is true in PA, and suspect it is largely true throughout the country). They have a lot of work to do shovelling our money out the door faster than ever before.

Here are some figures and an explanation of what is included in "welfare":

According to The Budget for Fiscal Year 2008, Historical Tables, total outlays for Means Tested Entitlements in 2006 were $354.3 billion. This was 2.7% of GDP and includes Medicaid, food stamps, family support assistance (AFDC), supplemental security income (SSI), child nutrition programs, refundable portions of earned income tax credits (EITC and HITC) and child tax credit, welfare contingency fund, child care entitlement to States, temporary assistance to needy families, foster care and adoption assistance, State children's health insurance and veterans pensions.

This is nonhealth, nonveteran, welfare only. This does not include the cost of unemployment, which is primarily paid by employers.