pShould welfare recipients have to pass a drug test?

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77 %

Yes

23 %

@Feb '13 c 348 comments V 585 votes

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585 Votes

u

Sun
DesignerLM voted

v Yes
u

Sun
mbarnett endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
Sun
madmama endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
Sat
sillybilly1b voted

v Yes
Fri
RadAuthNat endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
u

Fri
Gatnos endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
u

May 17
DrSilicon voted

v Yes
u

May 16
normanam voted

v Yes
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May 16
richster106 endorsed TDriver04

v Yes
u

May 16
Obsidion voted

v No
u

May 16
RobG endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
May 16
silentrunning endorsed Fishbone345

v Yes
u

May 15
fraps endorsed FaFoxy

v Yes
May 15
DanielZ endorsed DARSB

v No
May 14
Smoothbeartoo voted

v Yes
u

May 14
bleakoutlook voted

v No
May 13
jimsnoek voted

v Yes
May 12
rangerjeff voted

v Yes
May 12
User-Name endorsed TDriver04

v Yes
May 12
warwil630 voted

v Yes
u

May 12
smbiz voted

v No
May 12
Fyi1957 endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
May 11
tarakitten endorsed DARSB

v No
May 11
dwslater endorsed DARSB

v No
u

May 11
farmer_bruce voted

v Yes
May 10

jeffreyknee

v Yes

No brainer.

Post
u

May 10
LilliB voted

v Yes
u

May 9
Bill voted

v Yes
u

May 9
Bjwalker1371 endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
u

May 8

cwi530

v Yes

Here's another test. Put a healthy meal on an elevated platform with a ladder laying next to it. Put a bag of candy and soda pop next to the ladder below the platform. Then see what motivates welfare recipients.

Post
May 8

busseja

v No

Just another government organization and cost to do nothing for anyone. Just require food stamps bu used on staple food and pay other welfare directly to the provider.

Post
u

May 8
missing_mish endorsed caridad1

v No
u

May 8
pmonteen voted

v Yes
May 7
PaulUK2901 endorsed DARSB

v No
May 7
RevJdubs316 endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
u

May 7
FreedomWriter voted

v No
u

May 7
mejiakay1986 endorsed TDriver04

v Yes
May 7
Randolf voted

v Yes
May 7
oldtimer2 endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
May 7
Aaron262 voted

v Yes
May 7
LEC endorsed Waynestew

v No
u

May 6
gitrdone8383 voted

v Yes
May 6

AmandathePanda

v Yes

I had to take a drug test for a job, as well as my husband. His company randomly drug tests their employees. I say hell to the yes they should be drug tested!

r8 replies

Post
u

May 6
Carefree voted

v No
u

May 6
buckilaked voted

v Yes
May 6
SgtNFury voted

v Yes
May 6
JustTheFacts endorsed sittinduck

v Yes
May 6

jimmicrtr2

v No

How about landlords and hot air balloon pilots and short story authors. I think they need a UA. Hell, I think we all need UA's.

Post
May 5
Mrenze voted

v Yes
u

May 5

oldsolder

v Yes

All federal and state employees have to pass random drug testing and is a condition of employment, so anyone receiving a check from the government should have to pass not only an initial drug test but should be randomly tested to ensure that the funds aren't being used to fund relapses. Welfare should also only be available for a set period of time, like unemployment, and revoked if a person person receiving the benefits gets convicted of DUI or prostitution.

Post

May 10

jeffreyknee

v Yes

No brainer.

Post
u

May 8

cwi530

v Yes

Here's another test. Put a healthy meal on an elevated platform with a ladder laying next to it. Put a bag of candy and soda pop next to the ladder below the platform. Then see what motivates welfare recipients.

Post
May 8

busseja

v No

Just another government organization and cost to do nothing for anyone. Just require food stamps bu used on staple food and pay other welfare directly to the provider.

Post
May 6

AmandathePanda

v Yes

I had to take a drug test for a job, as well as my husband. His company randomly drug tests their employees. I say hell to the yes they should be drug tested!

r8 replies

Post
May 8

Holliekat

I'm up in the air on this one. On one hand you make an excellent point, but then children will suffer and that's horrible! It's not the child's fault life dealt them a sh*tty deal.

B1

Post @Holliekat
May 8

AmandathePanda

@Holliekat I just think if they are on welfare and drugs, they will never get a job, more than likely stay on welfare a long time. If they have to be clean, they can pass pre-employment drug tests.

Post @AmandathePanda
May 8

Holliekat

@AmandathePanda Another good point. I got pregnant with my first son kind of young and I did get Tenncare and foodstamps, but I also worked the whole time, my water actually broke at a table at Red Lobster. Now I don't get either of those benefits except my children get tenncare. My job doesn't offer insurance and I can't afford private insurance. You know I worked my ass off to get off welfare and better myself. Mayb being cut off welfare would inspire those people to work and start living again. I think welfare is great for those who need it and have a job and are trying to make it, but the majority really abuse the system. I just hate to think of their children doin...

Post @Holliekat
May 9

AmandathePanda

@Holliekat I used food stamps twice myself. Once after I had my son, then after a tornado hit my house. I used it only cuz I had too. I was working as well, but times were tough. That's what its for. Its for people in our kind of situations. I didn't make a life style out of it. I stopped useing them as soon as possable. I think when used correctly, welfare really can help people, it helped us. But it makes me sick when its a lifestyle.

Post @AmandathePanda
May 9

Holliekat

@AmandathePanda Well said! I did exactly the same and busted my ass to get off welfare as soon as I could. You know something else that makes me sick? People on disability that have no business being on it. My ex husband took 2 kinds of medication together and induced a seizure, he lied and said he was epileptic and now he gets 680 dollars a month for disability plus food stamps and medicare! He's nothing but a lazy druggie who could work but would rather lay around and get high all day! It pisses me off so bad that he managed this and fooled the system when there are people who need disability and have continually been denied.

B1

Post @Holliekat
View all 8 replies >
May 6

jimmicrtr2

v No

How about landlords and hot air balloon pilots and short story authors. I think they need a UA. Hell, I think we all need UA's.

Post
u

May 5

oldsolder

v Yes

All federal and state employees have to pass random drug testing and is a condition of employment, so anyone receiving a check from the government should have to pass not only an initial drug test but should be randomly tested to ensure that the funds aren't being used to fund relapses. Welfare should also only be available for a set period of time, like unemployment, and revoked if a person person receiving the benefits gets convicted of DUI or prostitution.

Post
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May 2

dzfgb

v No

Drug Abuse is a Disease not a Crime, and until we treat it properly there is "0" hope of a cure, and until Politicians quit $ profiting $ from it at both ends, there is NO hope of it being treated as other than a crime.

r8 replies

Post
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May 5

oldsolder

Drug abuse is not a disease its a self induced addiction. You know long before you even take your first hit that it's bad for, you can die from it, you get killed dealing, buying, making it. There is no valid excuse for doing drugs, none, I don't care what kind of home you came from, or if you were abused as a child, it's not an excuse to get hooked on drugs. I came from an abusive home and I have never done drugs in my 49 years of life, in fact I have spent most of my life defending my country and now I work at the VA helping wounded warriors. People do drugs because they choose to do drugs and now they are addicted, I shouldn't have to pay for their dumb dissuasions ...

Post @oldsolder
u

May 5

dzfgb

@oldsolder Half agreed my friend. Depression or a low self esteem, often leads to drug experimentation, which leads to addiction. But working in the VA you should know how addictive many prescription meds are. We call that an entry level drug. Once those pheromones are formed between your synapses glands you are addicted, and they are there for life, the disease; plain and simple. And that's to say nothing of the soldiers that received morphine in the field. I am a little surprised that as a Veteran yourself, especially working in the VA that you would even question this. But you are only 49. I respect your service and hope you respect mine. Like you I am not addicted,...

Post @dzfgb
u

May 5

oldsolder

Drug abuse is not a disease its a self induced addiction. You know long before you even take your first hit that it's bad for, you can die from it, you get killed dealing, buying, making it. There is no valid excuse for doing drugs, none, I don't care what kind of home you came from, or if you were abused as a child, it's not an excuse to get hooked on drugs. I came from an abusive home and I have never done drugs in my 49 years of life, in fact I have spent most of my life defending my country and now I work at the VA helping wounded warriors. People do drugs because they choose to do drugs and now they are addicted, I shouldn't have to pay for their dumb dissuasions ...

Post @oldsolder
u

May 5

oldsolder

@oldsolder I have no idea why this posted twice.

Post @oldsolder
u

May 5

oldsolder

@dzfgb You will not get any argument out of me on the prison system, none. As for the welfare system it is abused, heavily abused and a vary large percentage of the recipients aren't vets, vets receive treatment through the VA. I am a federal employee, I am randomly drug tested, it's a condition of my employment. The president is even subject to drug testing, any person receiving a check from the government should have to submit to random drug testing to continue to receive money. I know all about prescription drugs and their addictive nature, I was one of those GI's blown up June 25th 1996 in Khobar Towers and spent the better part of a year in hospital recovering fro...

Post @oldsolder
View all 8 replies >
May 2

JTHEM

v Yes

I know of too many on pot and meth plus the hordes on Oxycontin (legally).

Post
May 1

Bill2E

v Yes

Would help reduce the welfare rolls, only problem is the children might suffer, so lets keep the children on welfare with a guardian appointed to insure they receive food, clotting, housing and medical treatment. I'm not concerned about the parents, just the children.

Post
u

May 1

Avoicenmany

v Yes

If I have to take and PASS a drug test to get a actual JOB then anyone getting the taxes from me needs to take and PASS one as well...

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May 1

NormalFlora

v Yes

So should all politicians and anyone applying for a Concealed Carry permit

r1 reply

Post
May 1

Bill2E

I do agree with you, but most of america would not be able to own weapons, just kidding.

Post @Bill2E
May 1

vicki1

v Yes

yes

Post
u

Apr 30

akita96th

v No

To many hardships for people who don't have money and are trying to survive in the 1% world...I think politicians should stop with all these laws harassing people who just want to live ...I mean Geeze why don't all these politicians have to pass drug tests ..Do they not live off of my dime..I want to know what they do with my tax dollars when it is doled out to them..Do they buy alcohol? do they solicit prostitutes? do they enjoy prescription pain medicine while going to the doctors bought and paid for by my hard earned tax dollars... The outraged upper crust stuffed shirts with nothing better to do than observe what people buy to eat in the grocery stores, they get ...

Post
u

Apr 29

lizardking

v No

Cannabis is a medicine for all of us even the disabled.

Post
u

Apr 28

Gibson

v No

Having worked 30 years in the area of social programs, the drug problem did not extend to the vast majority of these people. But it is easy to stereotype as such. Most of these recepients also worked to some degree to support their families.

r2 replies

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May 1

LBaskins

Clearly, not everyone's social work experience is the same. I have a few social worker friends that could vouch the opposite experience. It does have a lot to do with area in which a person lives though. There are a lot of people who use it as it was intended, but a lot of people also abuse the system.

Post @LBaskins
May 6

jimmicrtr2

God, FINALLY, the voice of SANITY!!!! Does anyone remember . . . S A N I T Y ?

Post @jimmicrtr2
u

Apr 28

hoodathunkit

v Yes

I have to pass one to get and keep a job. People should have to pass one to sit on their butt and live off of working people.

Post
u

Apr 26

Big_jeff

v Yes

Boy a lot of obama voters would be very unhappy if that was the case

Post
Apr 26

oldman75

v No

If you don't have to pass a test to purchase a deadly weapon,why must you pass a test to buy food ?

B1

r5 replies

Post
May 5

Bob72370

Until an implement or tool is used by a person to commit bodily injury it is not a deadly weapon. Tools and implements are inanimate objects without any will or intent of their own. Therefore the tool or implement cannot be a deadly weapon, only the person who would willfully wield a tool or implement can harbor any deadly intent. How can one pass a test to purchase a "deadly weapon" when said deadly weapon does not exist until it's use to cause harm by a person?

Post @Bob72370
May 5

oldman75

@Bob72370 Sorry. Wrong again ! Definition : deadly weapon is generally defined as a firearm or anything manifestly designed, made, or adapted for the purposes of inflicting death or serious physical injury. The term includes, but is not limited to, a pistol, rifle, or shotgun; or a switch-blade knife, gravity knife, stiletto, sword, or dagger; or any billy, black-jack, bludgeon, or metal knuckles. I believe the dictionary more than I believe the NRA .

Post @oldman75
May 6

Bob72370

What is DEADLY WEAPON? Such weapons or Instruments as are made and designed for offensive or defensive purposes, or for the destruction of life or the infliction of injury. Com. v. Branhnm, S Bush (IC.v.) 387. A deadly weapon is one likely to produce death or great bodily harm. People v. Fuqua, 58 Cal. 245. A deadly weapon Is one which In the manner used is capable of producing death, or of inflicting great bodily injury, or seriously wounding. McReynolds v. State, 4 Tex. App. 327. Law Dictionary: What is DEADLY WEAPON? definition of DEADLY WEAPON (Black's Law Dictionary) http://thelawdictionary.org/deadly-weapon/#ixzz2SV5LikHs Try a real legal dictionary. Wi...

Post @Bob72370
May 7

oldman75

@Bob72370 common usage prevails .Are guns exempted from your deadly weapon list ?

Post @oldman75
May 7

Bob72370

Not at all. The point is that anything CAN be used as a deadly weapon. A bar of soap, a toothbrush, anything. And I do pass a test each time that I buy a weapon, I fill out a form 4473 and the info is called in to the FBI who does a background check on me before I am allowed to buy a firearm. And yes, even at gunshows when I purchase from a dealer. And no, in my area gun shows won't let you set up a table to sell firearms if you do not have a valid Federal Firearms License, so the purchases at gun shows here do go through the NICS check.

Post @Bob72370
Apr 26

ZombieMedic

v Yes

Drugs are the reason most are on welfare.

Post
Apr 25

AndrewMC

v No

I think most people who endorse the idea of drug testing for welfare applicants under appreciate the fact that in order to make this happen, another large government agency would have to be instituted which would simply cost more money for very little return. Additionally, what is the point? Are we trying to suggest that only druggies want welfare? Why pick that particular activity to test for? Why not IQ (stupid people can't work) or physical tests (fat people can't work) or literacy tests (illiterate people can't work). And, drug testing won't weed out the drunks, would it?

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Feb '13

sittinduck

v Yes

I have to pass one to work to pay for their welfare, so yes they should have to pass one to receive welfare.

B14

r3 replies

e130 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

DARSB

v No

This was tried in Florida under Gov Ric Scott. The program was dropped after the state spent six figured paying for negative tests and the positive test rate was only a third of the overall rate for the entire state. http://goo.gl/Dt7Qz More importantly, the disrespect and condescension promoters of this truly dumb idea display toward people needing temporary assistance is not a quality I want to see in a government employee.

B5

r5 replies

e24 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

TDriver04

v Yes

If they can afford drugs then they don't need welfare.

B2

r14 replies

e22 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

Fishbone345

v Yes

Anyone that receives Federal money that comes from taxes should. That should include all of Congress (both houses), the White House, the Supreme Court, all branches of Government (FBI, etc...).

r3 replies

e17 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

awbaldridge

v No

This has been proven wasteful and ineffective in every state that has implemented it. In Florida, for example, the law resulted in more spending than saving (cost of testing everyone was higher than savings of those taken off welfare for testing positive), caught very few drug users (the percentage of welfare recipients testing positive was actually lower than the percentage of the general population who would actually test positive for the same test), and had NO effect on the number of welfare applications. Speaking purely fiscally, these testing laws do not make sense, as they end up costing more government money. Speaking morally, I know that welfare money should ne...

B5

e7 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

Waynestew

v No

It would cost too much money to drug test so many people. It would also mean people who are just coming off the drugs and trying to get their lives back together would not be able to receive assistance until long after the drugs out of their system. Furthermore they wouldn't test for alcohol. Alcoholism is more of a problem than drugs.

B6

e4 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

Neo_NtheMatrix

v Yes

I don't believe in welfare at all, but if my money is to be stolen from me and given to some lazy unproductive miscreant, then yes I want them tested for drugs first.

B1

e5 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

harold_lloyd

v No

As a leading example of stupidity in government, Florida already tried this. It was dropped when the amount saved didn't even cover the cost of administering tests. That is, it didn't save money, it cost extra for no good result. So this is a litmus test of a sort. If you're really for fiscal responsibility, no testing. But if your goal is to punish people you consider to be inferior to you, you'll support it.

B3

r1 reply

e1 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

FaFoxy

v Yes

There is NO "Right" to welfare. If you need welfar for some unfortunate reason, tehn you should have to meet some minimum qualifications, INCLUDING being able to pass a drug test, to make certain that you're not spending that taxpayers' money on illegal drugs.

e3 endorsed

Post
Feb '13

The_Patriot

v Yes

You bet, if they want tax dollars to support them then they better be clean. Too much leeway given to welfare recipients already.

e3 endorsed

Post

Politix

pShould welfare recipients have to pass a drug test?

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