Question

Drug Tests for Welfare Recipients- Research this topic and include a brief summary and your opinion. A well written answer will include the problems associated with the concept, as well as the conflicts regarding the law. Your submission should be approximately one-page in length.

Answer 1

According to recent survey by an US agency, it is revealed that nearly 45 persons out of 100 persons receiving drug tests consumed prohibitive drugs last year. It means nearly half of welfare recipients of US uses prohibitive drugs. US president Donald Trump in 2017 presented a bill in US Congress that sought scrapping of Drug testing law enacted by Obama administration. However, disagreement also surfaced in USA over scrapping of drug testing law for Americans by President Trump. Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker asked the Trump administration to allow the state government for drug tests of welfare residents in Wisconsin state. Such permission will help poor people to pay for their medical bills. However Drug tests for welfare residents increases misuse of government fund on illegal drug trafficking and unsocial acts. But the ideal way will be that both Democrats and Republicans should make drug testing law universal for all US citizens who receive government grants and aids. The Federal government provide various welfare supports such as subsidized health insurance, tax rebates, unemployment allowance, social security coverage to US citizens. The key objectives of offering welfare supports to people by government are to remove economic inequality between rich and poor people and enable poor families to spend more money on daily necessities instead of buying illicit drugs. However, like other government welfare programs, drug testing for welfare residents too has some loopholes. The survey on US household finds out that out of all drug welfare recipients only 5% of them were found to have substantive drug abuse problem and thus to be eligible to receive preventive treatment as per the drug testing law. Such drug testing program also does not have any impact on employment and earnings potentials of the welfare residents. Ideally the tax subsidies, maternity leaves, medicaid and unemployment allowances provided by the Federal government should be invested by the recipients on fulfilling their requirements such as education of kids, foods, clothes and other items for family and others. However, some welfare recipients misuse the government's financial assistance on buying prohibitive drugs. The ideal way is that government should expand the applicability of its drug testing benefits to all sections of society that will reduce the misuse of government fund to a large extent. However, expansion of government welfare scheme also needs large budgetary support that will increase the debt burden of government in the long run.