There is an ongoing debate on whether drug testing of welfare recipients is legal in many of the local state governments. Welfare is supposed to meet the basic needs and drugs are far from the basic human needs. If recipients on using drugs get all the benefits, they are more likely to take their check and spend it on drugs rather than their needs. Drug testing people randomly who receive assistance would decrease the amount of people abusing the system, it would require recipients to stay free of using drugs and would reveal who is wasting the taxpayer’s money.

Randomly drug testing would benefit the system, others on assistance, and taxpayers. If you have to be drug tested to gain employment why not be randomly drug tested to continue to receive assistance?

DEVELOPMENT:

1. Welfare assistance should not be a one-way handout or open-ended privilege. We should aid on the basis of a return obligation. Taxpayers should provide support to those in need, recipients in return should engage in responsible behavior for receiving assistance.

Requiring welfare recipients to stop using illegal drugs is an element of a return obligation. It’s a real issue. Most related studies indicate that one third of people on welfare use illegal drugs (Rector, 2011).