Drug Testing Welfare Recipients

In the wake of the 2007–2009 economic recession, lobbyists in dozens of states proposed laws to mandate that those on public assistance—most often single mothers raising children in public housing—submit to random drug tests as a condition of receiving government assistance. Proponents of such mandates believed that this practice would ensure that tax dollars did not support welfare recipients’ presumed drug habits. Such laws mandating some form of drug test for either welfare or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) have gone into effect in several states, while other states require some form of testing for certain recipients. For example, in Minnesota, all applicants who have been convicted of a drug offense must submit to random drug testing. Many of these laws have been challenged and often overturned by the courts as a violation of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures. Florida's enforcement of the law was deemed unconstitutional in a 2014 district court decision. Ultimately, according to some observers, the crusade to drug test welfare recipients reflects not so much a debate on government spending as the growing disparity between those living in poverty and the middle class.

Overview

Since the Reagan administration of the 1980s, conservatives have promoted the idea that those who are eligible for government programs such as Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), more colloquially known as welfare, are a drag on the economy and willing participants in government policies that encourage dependency and irresponsibility. Moreover, these individuals believe that such programs are funded by unfairly taxing those who are willing to work. The unfounded beliefs associated with those who receive public assistance came to include that the number of people who are living in poverty that use drugs is far higher than in the general population. Proponents of drug testing champion the protection of public monies and cite the right of business owners to test their employees, pointing out that because welfare recipients do not work, their checks represent the de facto reality that they “work” for the public and the public has a right to protect its money. In addition, they argue that random testing helps identify and rescue children endangered by living in an unfit environment. Drug testing welfare recipients resonates with those who denounce public assistance programs as government overreach. The idea has become a favorite of Republican legislators, state and federal, who cite “welfare cheats” and the “war on drugs,” to curry favor among voters already disaffected by the inability of decades of such public assistance programs to eradicate poverty.

However, opponents of random drug testing for welfare recipients point to data showing that those on welfare are far less likely to do drugs than those who are not on welfare. In fact, the monthly assistance checks barely cover necessities. Opponents point to the pernicious logic behind the stereotype that people living in poverty are more likely to use drugs as evidence of the stigmatizing (and scapegoating) of those who are struggling to make ends meet. Furthermore, opponents point out the expense (and unreliability) of drug testing is in opposition to conservatives’ calls for smaller and more efficient government. Critics caution that the only beneficiary of drug-testing programs would be the drug-testing companies themselves. More compassionately, critics argue that subjecting welfare recipients to drug testing undercuts their self-esteem and further marginalizes them. Indeed, opponents cite data that among those who receive public assistance, chronic depression, the inaccessibility of education, and health problems are far more common issues than drug use.

Despite evidence showing that those states with drug-testing programs in effect have not seen any fiscal savings due to the low number of applicants actually testing positive for drug use, several more states have gone on to both pass and propose similar legislation. According to the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), at least thirteen states had passed drug-testing legislation regarding applicants for welfare assistance by 2019. Some states require all applicants to go through testing while others have enacted more targeted screening processes. In Tennessee, as part of the effort to avoid constitutional challenge, applicants for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) must first answer written questions pertaining to drug use; those who answer affirmatively will then be tested. Many other states have attempted to pass legislation to monitor recipient drug use. Some states have even proposed expanding drug testing to other programs, including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, and unemployment insurance. However, because these programs are federal-state partnerships with specified eligibility rules, states cannot create additional eligibility conditions without federal approval.

Bibliography

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