Cons of Drug Testing People on Welfare
Corbin Carter
8/6/2013
The topic of my paper is the cons of being against drug testing people on welfare. In my paper I will discuss who is affected by drug testing on welfare, what is welfare, when drug testing recipients on welfare begin, where drug testing recipients on welfare begin and why are recipients on welfare being drug tested.
For those that do not know what is welfare it is the organized public or private social services for the assistance of incapable group. Aid could include general Welfare payments, health care through Medicaid, food stamps, special payments for pregnant women and young mothers, and federal and state housing benefits. Welfare was put into effect in the United States beginning in 1930s during the Great Depression.
Drug testing people on welfare it “requires drug-testing people who receive public assistance, including welfare, unemployment, public housing and Medicaid. These bills are introduced by legislators based on the wrong belief that people who receive public assistance use drugs at a higher rate. This kind of drug testing is unconstitutional, scientifically unsound, and fiscally irresponsible and one more way the "war on drugs" is an unfair war on America's most vulnerable populations” (American Civil liberties Union). Believing that people receiving public assistance using drug at a higher rate is wrong because there are families that were involved in terrible disasters, loss a job due to recessions, single parent of the household and low income families living in poverty. Recipients receiving welfare are white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and other races in America.
Welfare Demographics
% of White
38.8
% of Black
39.8
% of Hispanic
15.7
% of Asian
2.4
% of Other
3.3
In 1999 Michigan introduced the first drug testing program. The Drug Detection Report stated that October 1999, Michigan’s Family Independence Agency put in place the nation’s...