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Should welfare recipients be drug tested?

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boomhower said:
How does it intrude on personal liberty? It's their choice to accept the check. No one is forcing them too. If getting high is more important that getting free money, that is their decision.
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😵 Government doing medical tests to see what you do in your private life doesn't intrude on your personal liberty?
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
You don't get the point. We give them welfare so they will just lay on the couch and smoke their dope. The alternative is to cut them off and they will be robbing you at gunpoint so they can get their dope and lay on the couch. Either way they aren't going to work for a living.
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Believe me, they are still doing that as well. Nothing like going into take a report in the projects with a flat screen TV in every room, kids playing a PS3, the "baby daddy" stoned on the couch, and mom high/drunk reporting her food stamp card was stolen. Don't mind steaks in the fridge or name brand liquor on the counter.
 
WelshBloke said:
😵 Government doing medical tests to see what you do in your private life doesn't intrude on your personal liberty?
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My job is with the government so they shouldn't be able to drug test me since it intrudes on my personal liberty? In your opinion no government employee should be drug tested?
 
boomhower said:
Believe me, they are still doing that as well. Nothing like going into take a report in the projects with a flat screen TV in every room, kids playing a PS3, the "baby daddy" stoned on the couch, and mom high/drunk reporting her food stamp card was stolen. Don't mind steaks in the fridge or name brand liquor on the counter.
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If is such a good life why don't you quit your job and go on the dole?
 
boomhower said:
My job is with the government so they shouldn't be able to drug test me since it intrudes on my personal liberty? In your opinion no government employee should be drug tested?
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They shouldn't be able to.

Just because you're getting fucked doesn't mean everyone else should get fucked aswell.
 
boomhower said:
My job is with the government so they shouldn't be able to drug test me since it intrudes on my personal liberty? In your opinion no government employee should be drug tested?
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Unless theres a good reason for testing (use of heavy/dangerous machinery etc) then no they shouldn't be allowed to test.
 
System_Mechanic said:
considering the billions that got wasted recently, *gm*cough** some of that could have spent drug testing the lazy.
too many people keep having kids and "faking" single parenthood just to be on section 8 and welfare all while riding in cadillacs with shiny big rims, eating T bones and buying Beer....yeah, i say lets drug test them and shake things up a bit....actually it would save us tax dollars, too many stupid ones would fail
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If we spent half as much on welfare fraud detection as we do tax enforcement, the states wouldn't be in danger of going bankrupt.

I say put out a bird-dog reward for people turning in welfare cheats. Pay people $500 if they help catch someone defrauding the system.
 
senseamp said:
Yes, they should, including nicotine, to make sure they aren't spending taxpayer money on cigarettes.
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Agreed and they not be allowed to drink alcohol either, not sure how to stop that, though.

Random drug testing should be enough, no way we can reasonably test everyone on welfare.
 
MovingTarget said:
Unless your job is such that could endanger the physical safety of others, then it is none of your employer's business.

A truck driver/crane operator? Certainly. A secretary, clerk, or accountant? No.
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So if I shoot people while on my lunch break, is that my employer's business?
 
rudeguy said:
If we spent half as much on welfare fraud detection as we do tax enforcement, the states wouldn't be in danger of going bankrupt.

I say put out a bird-dog reward for people turning in welfare cheats. Pay people $500 if they help catch someone defrauding the system.
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I'd be curious to see some official stats there. I suspect (but can't prove) that tax fraud is a much bigger problem than welfare fraud. Being on welfare and smoking (something legal or otherwise) may be a bad decision, but it isn't fraud. Misrepresenting your living status/income to get welfare or doing the same on a tax form to hide your income is fraud.
 
While I don't agree with our drug laws, if I gotta pass a drug test in order to obtain/keep a job so that I can pay taxes they should have to pass one in order to receive those tax dollars, at least concerning welfare.
 
MovingTarget said:
I'd be curious to see some official stats there. I suspect (but can't prove) that tax fraud is a much bigger problem than welfare fraud. Being on welfare and smoking (something legal or otherwise) may be a bad decision, but it isn't fraud. Misrepresenting your living status/income to get welfare or doing the same on a tax form to hide your income is fraud.
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I grew up in the ghetto so I have a different view of things. I'm not saying its the right view, but its what I have seen with my own eyes. People plot, scheme and do whatever they can to take advantage of the system. My son's mom is a great example.

I just think we need to fix the system. Obviously paying others to turn on others is a bad system but its a start.
 
Do you think the prevalence of drug testing in the USA has lead to a decrease in drug use compared to countries that don't drug test so aggressively?
 
MovingTarget said:
Being on welfare and smoking (something legal or otherwise) may be a bad decision, but it isn't fraud. Misrepresenting your living status/income to get welfare or doing the same on a tax form to hide your income is fraud.
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Do you really think even half the people on welfare or disability are one it for the right reasons and haven't skirted the system? It's gotten to the point that how to cheat the system is being passed down from generation to generation. It's ridiculous.
 
rudeguy said:
I grew up in the ghetto so I have a different view of things. I'm not saying its the right view, but its what I have seen with my own eyes. People plot, scheme and do whatever they can to take advantage of the system. My son's mom is a great example.

I just think we need to fix the system. Obviously paying others to turn on others is a bad system but its a start.
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Fair enough. Fraud should be more easily detected and thus prosecuted. I grew up in a poor rural area, so the type of poverty I experienced was a bit different. People don't so much scheme as do what they can to get by with very limited choices. More often than not they have to fight red tape tooth and nail to even get on things like disability when they need to. Every person that games the system is ensuring that someone who actually needs the help doesn't get it.

I do not, however, link this to drug use/testing. That is a seperate issue, imho.
 
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