Should welfare recipients have to take a drug test to qualify for benefits?
One opinion is that if people can afford to buy drugs, then they shouldn't get food stamps or other assistance that the tax payers have to pay for. Another opinion is that it will cost the tax payers even more to implement the drug tests on all the applicants. Perhaps if they have to pay for their own drug test, that will make less people on drugs apply. Where do you stand on this?
Yes
Side Score: 6
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No
Side Score: 5
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employers have no business knowing if you do drugs...if they dont like your performance they can always fire you for what ever reasons. do you realize how much big pharma makes off all the drug kits per year? thats one of the reasons they dont wany weed legalized...its the main drug that shows up for jobs/schools Side: No
I for one do not want a surgeon who is about to operate on me being stoned. Nor do I want the construction workers working on the road with all that heavy equipment and trucks being stoned. There are some jobs that do have a right to know if their employees do illegal drugs because it's a safety issue. As for the welfare drug testing, why should taxpayers pay for a drug addict's habit? Side: Yes
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We need to know if they are wasting the tax payer's hard earned cash on drugs or not. Also they shouldn't be allowed to smoke either, tax money should not go towards paying for their cigarettes and more regulations should be put into place to stop them from wasting the money on other frivolous things. Side: Yes
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They should equally be tested for bad diet, absence of physical exercise and sour mood. There's nothing special about drug usage. It's not qualitatively different from being unhealthy in other ways. So there's nothing immoral specifically about using drugs, so what reason indeed is there for testing specifically for such usage? Side: No
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This has actually been tried, in several states now. In every single one, it is found that welfare recipients overwhelmingly can pass drug tests. The total expense of carrying out the testing exceeded any "savings" that were to be had from the occasional individual who did not pass- by orders of magnitude. The numbers don't add up; the idea we have of welfare recipients all being like the odd 'welfare queen' stereotype are hideously flawed; this is definitely an extremely visible minority. I read somewhere that 20% of welfare recipients are on the program for less than 6 months, and 80% less than 5 years, so people subsisting on it indefinitely would be a minority, plain and simple. I can't provide a source on that at this time though, unfortunately :/ Side: No
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