Too many ill-informed folks posting on an issue they likely know little about here and let their own perceptions of the stereotypical welfare recipient get the better of 'em.
Drug testing in and of itself is now nothing more than an industry. One that is also subsidized by taxpayer dollars, insurance companies and employers (Corporate America) as a method of control and unconstitutional in EVERY facet of American law......but it continues, it expands, it thrives because it IS part of the "War on Drugs."
Far too many people who ARE required to take drug tests.....whether pre-employment or otherwise......ARE EASILY able to beat any drug test with a wide range of available methods or just "clean up" for a little while.
This IS a FACT!
I agree that there are and always will be people who abuse any and all assistance they may get from the government and ARE truly worthless and a perpetual drain on our society, but I also know there are MANY who have fallen on "hard times," been laid off, become disabled, ill or are taking care of some other family member who may be incapacitated in some way that may have severely put them in financial distress resulting in their need to seek government aid (welfare, food, housing, etc.). Welfare laws have been dramatically reformed since the Clinton-era and the assistance available to people is VERY minimal.......to say the least.
In WA........a family of 4 is qualified to receive a total of $640/month in cash along with a total of $375/month in FOOD........often which has to be supplemented by some from the $640 CASH amount. All the while......the heads of the household MUST be actively searching for Full time work.....Full time 35 + hrs/week and failure to do so or non-compliance will result in those benefits to be either cut in half or removed completely.........which they will anyway......once that family of 4 has someone working a $9.00/hr job full time!
Such a HUGE amount of assistance for this family?!
How many here can live soooo comfortable with your family.........on an income of $640/month cash and $375/month for food for all 4 of ya?
Rent, gas, insurance, electricity, phone, water, clothing, TV? ALL......for under $640/month?..............a GHETTO neighborhood or under a bridge, camping in the woods, sleeping in a car..........your choice......OR, unfortunately.........many feel pressured to make more money in the most ILLEGAL or IMMORAL way to supplement that amount and try to live OUT of a ghetto that may be full of gangs, shootings, assaults, etc.
To those who have posted previously who have "noticed" a welfare recipient or food card holder who was driving a NEW vehicle or using a nice, expensive cell phone.......here's the deal......YEAH, that person probably IS unemployed, qualifies for welfare assistance, etc. BUT........that nice car wasn't paid for by YOUR tax dollars.........but likely, because THAT person SELLS DRUGS or does PORN online or ?, prostitution or often "gets lucky" at a casino or with a scratch lottery ticket!
Don't take it personally...........but a LOT of people just CANNOT GET JOBS for a huge number of reasons:
(1). Crappy economy.......LOT of competition for ANY and all jobs....including the minimum wage ones.
(2). Their PAST haunts them.......Whether its a criminal record, lack of stable employment history, mental/physical/health-related, past injury/surgery.......AND throw in the fact that now there are MANY employers who REFUSE to hire you if your CREDIT SCORE doesn't meet their expectations of a trustworthy employee who pays his/her bills on time....all the time, has perfect credit with no bankruptcies or ?
(3). Clannish Corporate America.........Yes, discrimination of ALL kinds is alive and well in America....OR.....oops, Affirmative Action hiring quotas hindered your chance for employment......even though the one the company hired is beyond STUPID!
(4). Outsourcing of sooooo MANY manufacturing jobs overseas.
(5). Corporate Downsizing......including the fact that many employers NOW seek Part Time employees they don't need to pay ANY benefits to......or ONLY hire through Temp. Agencies for the same reason and can pay lower wages too in doing so.
(6). Competition for ANY job with probably 20 MILLION people here ILLEGALLY.......who are ALSO getting government benefits and making babies who are then, immediately born LEGAL American citizens from their ILLEGAL mommys and daddys.....and all the businesses who provide them with work and give them the reasons to immigrate here illegally.......cause we're still a bit better than the country they came from..........for a little while.
Sorry.......but this country and its policies MAKE more problems than it ever could or wish to fix and could do a LOT better at the way it treats its OWN, legal citizens!
Corporate America......ARE the REAL winners and fueled by the same GREED as any government politician to keep the stockholders happy, make bigger profits......all the while SHAFTING more and more people in society EVERYDAY and directly/indirectly CONTRIBUTING to an ever-widening gap in classes in this country.
Sorry......but it's THIS crap that only fuels more resentment, hopelessness and despair among more and more people.........inevitibly fueling further societal ills and poverty.
Either DRUG TEST EVERYONE IN AMERICA.......equally and fairly....including ALL politicians, cops and lawmakers, judges, schoolkids AND welfare recipients.......OR scrap it!
It only serves to divide this nation further, fuel far more anger and resentment and likely....increase crime as well.....again, at the expense of EVERYONE.....since more crime is what THEY WANT to convince the masses that there must NEVER, EVER be an END to the construction of more jails and prisons! 500,000 incarcerated (1980)....... 2.6 MILLION (2007).....in America.
Let's just go for 50 MILLION locked up in America within 25 more years.......including ALL who fail a drug test!
Eventually.......your either a prisoner.....OR you are working to KEEP all these people locked up or monitored in some way.
Great nation it'll be??!!
Sad fact is.......whether you are for or against drug testing......IF you REMOVE or FIRE or don't HIRE........ALL in our society who would show a positive drug test RIGHT NOW..............the American workforce would cease to exist.....overnight and there would likely then be about 30 MILLION + MORE UNEMPLOYED. Business and trade in this country WOULD STOP cold and THAT is the reality many here either don't believe or want to know!