No

by Stephen Pate

Created on: December 06, 2009

Should drug tests be required of welfare recipients? No, I don't think so. Welfare recipients are typically extremely poor and are uneducated. Another aspect of welfare recipients is that they are mentally ill. It would seem too ignoble to find ways to deny recipients access to welfare.

Welfare recipients are usually on welfare because they lack an education and training to earn a better living. Their education only allows them basic opportunities for earning a paycheck, if they even have an education that high. Because of this, they probably aren't thoroughly educated about illegal drugs.

Illegal drugs are a complex issue. It is often simplified to people to just don't use them. But that's too much of a simplification for many people. For instance, why is alcohol and tobacco products legal but marijuana and heroin aren't even though all four are technically drugs? This leads some people that the legalization of drugs are rather arbitrary and most drugs aren't as dangerous as the government makes it seem. These poor try drugs and get addicted because they just aren't educated enough on the consequences of their actions.

Another reason why welfare recipients use illegal drugs is because they suffer from undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. One very prominent reason why welfare recipients can't hold down an average job is because they are suffering from mental illnesses which makes it difficult for them to keep a job without therapy and medication. Public healthcare in the United States is exceedingly lacking, so the mentally ill who are so poor normally does not get the therapy or medication they need simply because they cannot pay for it. Those recipients who are mentally ill usually resort to illegal drugs in an attempt to self-medicate their symptoms and condition.

It is not the fault of mentally ill recipients that they are mentally ill. It is also not their fault that the United States has a poor social net to provide them with the therapy and medication they need. They self-medicate on illegal drugs because they can not afford the prescription drugs they really need.

It also seems hypocritical to deny recipients welfare if they test positive for drugs when there is no national government sponsored treatment center to help them deal with drug addiction. We don't want to pay recipients to get welfare if they're using illegal drugs but then again we don't want to pay to get them off of drugs so they can get welfare either. What recourse does a welfare recipient have to earn a living? Only one: crime. So instead of being paid for by the government through welfare checks they are paid for by the government through incarceration in our prisons.

Lastly, if we're going to deny welfare recipients government money for basic living because they've tested positive for illegal drugs, why don't we deny government employees and officials their paycheck if they've tested positive for illegal drugs? After all, political officials are paid for by government money derived from tax revenue just like welfare recipients are. However, elected officials, especially those as high as our Congressmen, Senators, Cabinet Secretaries and even Vice President and President do not have to undergo testing for illegal drugs to keep their positions. This despite being granted grant vast amounts of responsibility over the functioning of our government. To put it another way, the American people cannot determine whether or not those who are in charge of declaring war and authorizing the use of our nuclear arsenal are using illegal drugs. Why should we punish the poor for doing something that we can't punish our national leaders for?

No, we absolutely should not test welfare recipients for illegal drug use. Doing so will only make a horrible situation for welfare recipients even more despicable. Maybe if we had a better education system for the poor. Maybe if we created a better mental health care system for the poor. Maybe if we created a better government system to help the drug-addicted poor to get clean. Maybe if we held our government officials to the same standards as government recipients. But no, until then I don't think we should require drug tests for welfare recipients for illegal drug use.

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