Pass legislation to mandate drug testing for welfare recipients

Originally posted by Kryties
I don't think anyone has addressed the point that all a person has to do is take a codeine pain pill for a headache and WHAMMO - suddenly they don't get welfare benefits because some trumped up git decided it was a good thing to drug test people on welfare.

Something as simple as a Tylenol (Panadeine here in Australia), or some other opiate or other based legal prescription drug could send someone spiralling into poverty and starvation.

I'd say food for thought but I'm afraid that won't deter those people who think they know better.

I did above, noted that if one takes a prescription drug for pain, boom off welfare.

This legislation needs to be passed NOW! Here in MA we have additional idiocy with a methadone program that PAYS people $1200 per month to drive to Holyoke and get their methadone. There is NO LIMIT to the amount they can get and these heroin addicts bring it right to street corners in Pittsfield and SELL IT. The program is not set up to wean these addicts off anything and we are paying for this. It's one big outrage.
All of us worker bees are tired of standing in line at the grocery store and watching food stamps pay for sirloin tips and lobster while we struggle to pay for hamburger and potatoes. Insanity.
I say stop welfare altogether. Make 'em work. We have to, why shouldn't they?

OP,,,

I am a single father who has in the past (swallowed my pride) needed help from welfare.Im also black.So to a degree i completely understand WHY you think as such.But the truth is, your (like ohh so many others) PERSONAL experience has made you jaded.

Your issue is with the people on welfare, not welfare. I been in the welfare buildings and have seen the irresponsible, UNEDUCATED, unconcerned people whom your appearing to lash out at. Understand,,,THEY ARE NOT YOU.

Just because YOU get it, doesn't mean everyone SHOULD or WILL get it.Since you were able to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, you assume everyone else should as well,right? That's not realistic, nor does it exhibit the very intelligence you demand!

So, just like your REAL argument is with the embarrassment you have regarding the behavior of our people,,,i too have those same feelings regarding YOU

Originally posted by forensicgeek
Being someone who has personally lived around drug addicts who abuse the welfare system I think this is a WONDERFUL idea! I hear all the time of people who have traded benefits like food stamps to drug dealers. It's disgusting. I also feel that people on welfare should have to attend some sort of mandatory job search program because there are hundreds of people who don't even try to find a job because the government is paying for their expenses.

I think assistance programs are definitely lifesavers, but there has to be some accountability and responsibility with both the state AND the citizens receiving the benefits.

No since looking for jobs that aren't there first of all. Second of all, it already is MANDATORY to be enrolled in a job-placement program to receive benefits. When I applied for foodstamps I joined a work re-training program and got my CDL. After hundreds of applications, I never landed so much as an interview.

So clearly you are not talking from personal.experience, but parroting the same old myths that have stereotyped the poor for decades.

LIke your little diddy there about foodstamps being traded to drug dealers. Another lie. For one thing, less than 3% of people on welfare use drugs. For another, foodstamps are not actual stamps. They are an electronic benefits card. Your local corner drug dealer is not going to follow you to the supermarket to go grocery shopping with your card.

Originally posted by Atom12
This legislation needs to be passed NOW! Here in MA we have additional idiocy with a methadone program that PAYS people $1200 per month to drive to Holyoke and get their methadone. There is NO LIMIT to the amount they can get and these heroin addicts bring it right to street corners in Pittsfield and SELL IT. The program is not set up to wean these addicts off anything and we are paying for this. It's one big outrage.
All of us worker bees are tired of standing in line at the grocery store and watching food stamps pay for sirloin tips and lobster while we struggle to pay for hamburger and potatoes. Insanity.
I say stop welfare altogether. Make 'em work. We have to, why shouldn't they?

Another myth. Foodstamps are not being used to buy lobsters on a regular basis. I would like to see you try to survive on $200 a month. How many different ways can you ramen?

EDIT to add: Oh, and BTW, baseheads and meth fiends don't give a crap about eating lobsters.

reply to post by Atom12


I agree.If there are so many jobs out there then give them one.

You might not feel the same if you lost your job and had to go on welfare and had to go pee in a cup every month and would more than likely have a camera on you.

Originally posted by GodIsPissed
reply to post by Atom12

 

I agree.If there are so many jobs out there then give them one.

You might not feel the same if you lost your job and had to go on welfare and had to go pee in a cup every month and would more than likely have a camera on you.

Forcing welfare recipients to pee in a cop every month will cost the taxpayers of Florida well over a hundred million dollars a year, far exceeding any percieved savings by eliminating 1-3% of people on welfare who use marijuana. Keep in mind here too, that harder drugs and alcohol do not show up in pee tests. But the "savings" will only be about 1-3 million dollars a year in benefits eliminated, while spending over a hundred million to save those few million.

reply to post by GodIsPissed


If I needed welfare and lived off of a government assistance program, I most certainly would not mind being tested for drug use. If you are getting assistance than it should be necessary for you to prove that you can stay clean or sober for the time being,

Sterilization laws also are not a bad idea by any means, even if it is just birth control pills.

Look I know that it seems not politically correct, but how many dollars are spend on welfare programs each year? I don't know the answer but it has to be in the billions of dollars. That comes out of my paycheck, my wife's paycheck, your paychecks as well. I work hard for what I have and work 60 hrs a week to pay the bills. Do I recognize that someday I may need this assistance to survive for awhile? I most certainly hope not but if this is the case then I will not abuse that privilege by using ILLEGAL drugs and living vicariously.

There are people I know who at certain times had more children just to get the extra benefit money, this practice exists, there are people who manipulate the system, I would say it is the most fundamental flaw in the welfare system in the U.S today is that people who use it to survive understand the ways to make it benefit them the most.

A co-worker told me a story of welfare recipients using there food stamps to buy cans and bottles only to dump the soda in them to get money from the deposit to buy cigarettes, I do not know the validity of the story but the point is the same, the system is being abused

Yet the system is important to the very fabric of the ideals of our country, and many needy people survive financially by the good graces of these very programs, I do not think it is a problem that we insure that they are using the programs as intended and not using substances that lessen their decision making, which I'm sorry if you are on welfare, would include having children. If you can't afford to take care of yourself, please do not bring a life into the world as well.

reply to post by vkey08


to play devils advocate, if you are on welfare you are already in poverty, don't blame a tylenol pill for the lot you made in life.

I would think that certain drug use would be able to be seen as such , and a black and white line would not have to be drawn here.

reply to post by ButterCookie


Drug test your fellow citizens but not the politicians and their corporate handlers??!! People like you make my blood boil with your flagrant disregard for humanity and your monumental display of arrogant ignorance makes me want to kick in your pompous ass. This corrupt "system" that we live in is solely responsible for the situation that we all are in today and you obviously have not the faintest clue of how this system works or how it affects your simple little life. Let me guess, you think that the perpetual war that our "tax money" supposedly pays for is legitimate..right? As long as it keeps you "safe"... You think making people suffer because you THINK you're better then them is ok...right? As long as it isn't you suffering... Well guess what, you're no better than anyone else and you have no GD right to pass judgement on people you don't even know!! I say we sterilize your kind and do humanity a HUGH favor because YOUR mentality is the problem, not the millions that have been thrown overboard.

Originally posted by Evanzsayz
reply to post by ButterCookie

 

There is alot of people on welfare and no they did not give up their privacy, everyone is entitled to that. Do you realize how much that would cost to drug test millions of people

I understand that the costs would increase to do this. But look at the implications if it is not done.

Drug testing and population control of Welfare Recipients:

Less babies being born of unstable parents
Ending the poverty cycles of welfare recipients reproducing to produce the same results of their children
Less abuse in the welfare system
More productive, responsible citizens
More adults returning to school to learn new trades, skills, and a better sense of well being

The benefits will eventually outweigh the costs.

Originally posted by consigliere
OP,,,

I am a single father who has in the past (swallowed my pride) needed help from welfare.Im also black.So to a degree i completely understand WHY you think as such.But the truth is, your (like ohh so many others) PERSONAL experience has made you jaded.

Your issue is with the people on welfare, not welfare. I been in the welfare buildings and have seen the irresponsible, UNEDUCATED, unconcerned people whom your appearing to lash out at. Understand,,,THEY ARE NOT YOU.

Just because YOU get it, doesn't mean everyone SHOULD or WILL get it.Since you were able to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, you assume everyone else should as well,right? That's not realistic, nor does it exhibit the very intelligence you demand!


So, just like your REAL argument is with the embarrassment you have regarding the behavior of our people,,,i too have those same feelings regarding YOU

i respect this comment.

You stated that "I get it", which thankfully, I do.

But that came from not surrounding myself with people who want to remain unproductive, enrolling myself back in school, and realizing that I did not need to keep reproducing just because I'm able to.

How do you think they will get it?

Certainly not by life-long entitlement programs that reward unproductive behavior such as allowing them to reproduce at will (only to have the state pick up the tab), chose mates that are also unproductive to have the children with (increasing manpower in the Child Support offices), and are told they are victims FOREVER.

There has to be some accountability in order to become productive.

Originally posted by ButterCookie

...There has to be some accountability in order to become productive.

Productivity? The old squeeze blood from a stone logic...

The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World – When do we Draw the Line?

Using data by the U.S. BLS, the average productivity per American worker has increased 400% since 1950. One way to look at that is that it should only take one-quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be 4 times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not. Someone is profiting, it’s just not the average American worker.

Lots of people are stating that my support of population control is horrible.

Even if we don't sterilize, the least the government should do is stop rewarding irresponsible women when they CONTINUE to have children in their situation.

It sends the wrong message....

Do not increase food stamps with every birth. Eventually, the mother will see that it is not a wise decision to keep having babies that she can't feed.

Do not increase the amount of a Section 8 Housing voucher. If she continues to have babies, allow her to see how uncomfortable it is when space is limited (hint hint, population control for the planet.....)

Do not increase welfare checks. She will not be able to provide and clothes and diapers, once again seeing that this was a bad idea to keep having babies without a job

Do not provide free childcare with new births. If she can't work or go to school because she can't afford daycare, she will get the point

Is this harsh? Perhaps

Is it real? YES

This is how you wake people up.

Originally posted by CobraCommander

Originally posted by ButterCookie

...There has to be some accountability in order to become productive.

Productivity? The old squeeze blood from a stone logic...

The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World – When do we Draw the Line?

Using data by the U.S. BLS, the average productivity per American worker has increased 400% since 1950. One way to look at that is that it should only take one-quarter the work hours, or 11 hours per week, to afford the same standard of living as a worker in 1950 (or our standard of living should be 4 times higher). Is that the case? Obviously not. Someone is profiting, it’s just not the average American worker.

Well that means quit being stones......

reply to post by ButterCookie


I do believe that there should be some incentive to have two or fewer children, ESPECIALLY if you are on welfare when you get pregnant. But I am not for outright government control of reproduction by any means.

Drug testing is expensive, and as several posters have pointed out, would cost exhorbitantly more than just allowing the few who do use drugs to continue doing so.

This is a plan of action based largely on a mental image the OP has, along with many middle class white people, that shows 'welfare queens' living it up in the slums on their dime, fornicating, reproducing, and drinking state purchased forties.

We can all thank the late great Ronald Reagan for that little jewel.

The truth is far, far from that.

You want to be truly outraged at the waste of your taxpayer dollars?

How about these 'welfare queens':

Lehman Brothers,

General Motors,

AIG, and on and on.

What we 'waste' feeding inner city families is a weekend in the Hamptons compared to what we dish out to these behemoths.

The top 200 multinational corporations headquartered here in the US paid absolutely no taxes in 2010.

The top 200 multinational corporations headquartered here in the US paid absolutely NO TAXES IN 2010.

Did they not use up our nations resources? Did they not benefit from our citizenry?

These white collar henchmen raped our land and stole outright from our collective coffer.

But, then, that's not as repugnant to the judgemental in the middle class, after all, that is whom they hope and imagine being one day, so excuses and rationalizations can be made.

But the lowly, probably brown, single mom, whom sits around all day smoking dope and neglecting her kids, there's an image we can rally against!

Deny ignorance...

Originally posted by ButterCookie

Well that means quit being stones......

What a stupid response. Sorry you missed the point and sorry I wasted my time.

reply to post by jimnuggits


Another myth too, that most people on welfare are inner-city blacks "drinkin 40's." The fact is that most people on welfare are white.

reply to post by CobraCommander


It's probably more important that most people on welfare did not receive a high school diploma, regardless their particular hue.

That's what they mean when they say 'you think education is expensive, try ignorance.'