Another State Tests Welfare Recipients for Drug Use, And...

[Cubo de Sangre]

A better source would've given a fuller version of the story.

...Just saying, a story from a site that doesn't call people leeches & moochers would've probably been more useful.

Probably. But I said that wasn't the article I read, it was also an aside to the thread topic, and if you're on this board you're not too helpless to type the shit into Yahoo if the raw numbers quoted from the site picking up the story weren't satisfactory.

What you're complaining about only relates to the commentary. Your ad hominem doesn't negate their stats (that in this day and age are easily looked up).

If you type another message in reply to this that doesn't contain a refutation of the stats that are being commented on then you probably shouldn't be offering much more advice to me on productive posting. You've expressed doubt. I'm saying I don't care if you take it for fact. I'm inviting you to show otherwise. Or anyone else for that matter. Sorry if all this sounds abrupt.

 

[Bukowski82]

Cutting your nose off to spite your face is in full effect...

 

[AFewDollarsMore]

0.3 percent? wtf. You couldn't find that low of a number in a convent of nuns. c'mon something fishy there

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

How many more states have to burn through taxpayer money to find out this ideological fetish they wanna push inst true?

If i were a taxpayer Id be pissed

 

[HunterSdVa29]

Sure but i also think the number of people on welfare vs drugs is a lot lower than most people want to believe it is. Drugs cost money and people on the welfare are notorious for not having any.

it's hard to find legit stats on it, but what percentage of adult welfare recipients do you think smoke?

or drink?

 

[Gutter Chris]

it's hard to find legit stats on it, but what percentage of adult welfare recipients do you think smoke?

or drink?

Too many im sure but not enough to justify blowing money on tests Im also sure.

As someone who spent quite a few years living in a bad spot let me tell you about the real scam is. The real scam with dope is with pills and medicaid. You can test hot for whatever you got an rx for and you can flip em for 100 percent profit thanks to you and me the tax payer. Why do you think those pills are such a problem and the people getting hooked the worst are coming from places where no one could afford that kind of thing.

That said I think hunting the crooks on this one is going to cause more problems than it solves and probably cost more money than just paying the bs cases in the first place. Just thinking about the money we would have to spend on jail and child welfare services just to go after the biggest losers in our society makes my face hurt.

 

[ehtheist]

http://www.aol.com/article/2016/02/...elfare-recipients-and-the-results-w/21314760/





I'm very definitely not a fan of drugs.
But I'm also not a fan of flushing money down the toilet in a futile attempt to push a narrative that is questionable at best and overwhelmingly false, at worst.

Wow... I bet I could spend all day picking random sample groups from major American cities and not find one with numbers that low. I bet you could pick a sample group from your average church and it wouldn't be that low. Conclusive proof that poor people are more moral than rich people

 

[Quipling]

Wow... I bet I could spend all day picking random sample groups from major American cities and not find one with numbers that low. I bet you could pick a sample group from your average church and it wouldn't be that low. Conclusive proof that poor people are more moral than rich people

Maybe people at your church should stop doing so many drugs.

 

[scrubido]

Sure but i also think the number of people on welfare vs drugs is a lot lower than most people want to believe it is. Drugs cost money and people on the welfare are notorious for not having any.

No, they are notorious for spending what money they have irresponsibly.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Maybe people at your church should stop doing so many drugs.

 

[ehtheist]

Maybe people at your church should stop doing so many drugs.

Well, it's not my church since I'm not a Bible thumper, but the one where I used to volunteer at the soup kitchen at had just shy of twice as many drug users as these homeless people at 0.5%. So, one of the two hundred people there did drugs. The homeless who came in used to really look down on the people serving the soup, since they were such a bunch of crack hounds... Wild, wild bunch with so many people doing drugs!

Seriously though, I'm not making some point against welfare or in favour of this drug testing - the drug testing seems like a colossal waste of time and money. It's just that these numbers seem too good to be true. Maybe they are legit - maybe my perceptions are wildly out of sorts. But think about it... Take a sample group of 200 Americans from *anywhere* and do you think you'll find an average of just 1 person doing drugs among them? Of all demographics to do this to, it's welfare recipients? Again, maybe my perception of this demographic is wildly out of sorts, but 0.3% seems like a freakishly low percent of any demographic of Americans doing drugs, not just welfare recipients. Is their testing based on questionnaire by any chance?

If your testing reveals that an average of under 1/200 Americans from any group does drugs, your testing likely sucks and people are likely beating it with ease. So, why bother spending the money on the testing?...

 

[Jack V Savage]

Too many im sure but not enough to justify blowing money on tests Im also sure.

As someone who spent quite a few years living in a bad spot let me tell you about the real scam is. The real scam with dope is with pills and medicaid. You can test hot for whatever you got an rx for and you can flip em for 100 percent profit thanks to you and me the tax payer. Why do you think those pills are such a problem and the people getting hooked the worst are coming from places where no one could afford that kind of thing.

Not really related to this thread too closely, but as someone who has been all over the map in terms of income, it appears to me that there is a real problem with rich and upper middle class women and prescription pills. I'm not one to draw strong conclusions from my own observations so I'll just say that I'd really like to see research done on this because from my experience, a woman in a $300K-plus-earning household who doesn't have a bullshit prescription for Xanax or Vicodin or Valium or Oxy or something is the exception. I know a lot of poor people, too, and it seems like their usage of any kind of drug is way lower.

 

[sickc0d3r]

I read something recently that showed when people were asked to do some work or take some classes is when enrollment really dropped. Like 80% or so.

It wasn't this exact article but I believe this is the story I read.

http://qpolitical.com/maine-just-pu...very-american-needsto-see-what-happened-next/

Just to provide some context, that actually refers to the reinstatement of existing eligibility requirements that were temporarily waived because of the unusually bad economic environment. I think like 3 counties are federally designated "labor surplus areas" which means there is a serious imbalance between jobs available and number of workers.

So, while the numbers might be accurate, I presume the total was also initially inflated based on the economy and the temporary lifting of restrictions.
Some criticism is directed at the state's inability to facilitate all the volunteer work or temp jobs for a spiking rate of applicants, and that people lose their benefits after 3 months even if they are actively seeking employment. Also that lifting the waiver was premature because of the continuing unemployment problem.

 

[ultramanhyata]

Aren't we living in the 21st century? A period of awareness in which we view substance addiction as, primarily, a disease? I mean, we may as well test welfare recipients for diabetes or psoriasis and kick them off the rolls if they pop positive.

Or are these drug testing initiatives being pushed by the same enlightened political wing that still believes sexual orientation is a "choice"?

 

[ehtheist]

Aren't we living in the 21st century? A period of awareness in which we view substance addiction as, primarily, a disease? I mean, we may as well test welfare recipients for diabetes or psoriasis and kick them off the rolls if they pop positive.

Or are these drug testing initiatives being pushed by the same enlightened political wing that still believes sexual orientation is a "choice"?

 

[Lustercross]

When cuckservatives talk about government waste spending, they only need to look at their own party.

 

[My Spot]

It's been a waste of money here in FL.

 

[ehtheist]

When cuckservatives talk about government waste spending, they only need to look at their own party.

I'd really hope everyone would talk about this more. It's one of the things Libertarians get right - government is a very wasteful means by which to implement things.

 

[ultramanhyata]

 

[ultramanhyata]

It's been a waste of money here in FL.

Shaming poors should be its own reward.