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So it was recently shown in Utah that they only caught 12 people in their attempts to test people based on their likelihood to be using drugs. many people called that a failure number, but what also happened was that when informed they would have to be tested a couple of hundred of the applicants stopped the process. Over 200 of them did not procede. That is in a set of 4000 applicants who were not all tested. They shook out over 200 people from that process who were unwilling to stop using drugs while collecting benefits.
before i go here I do believe in things like SNAP, and though I support an idea like TANF I have to say it needs to be fixed. If these sorts of numbers of people are being shaken out of the public assistance system for doing something voluntary and purely recreational perhaps it working and saving money. 12 people was not a lot, but when you find 200+ people dropped the process because of the tests it becomes more substantial. Plus it does show us that in a few cases of the people who were caught some actually went through the test and asked for rehab help on the other side. Before I thought that those people might not have been dedicated to rehab so they might be wasting money there, but it would seem lots of people who were on drugs were shaken out of the system or discouraged from continuing and the people who got to that point might be a bit more likely to get through rehab.
With an option to have benefits dependent on rehab and remaining clean and seeing all of this I actually think this sort of program does have it's place and should be implemented. It would help clean up the welfare system of people who just want to do drugs and collect. I am a huge advocate for personal choice in drug use, but when you are begging for assistance the money is being given to you for survival and need and it is wasted if those people use it on drugs. As a responsible working member of society you should be allowed to enjoy the recreation of drugs. It is recreation, and therefor we do not need to pay for you to do it.
The only opposing point I can see is in the case of something like weed where if it were legal you could grow it for free. Right now it is illegal and even if it were free you should not be using what is pretty much charity to do an illegal act which could cause you further problems. This in conjunction with limiting what can be purchased with TANF benefits would be a good start. I have to say the argument that it is not effective just got blown away for me because it does deter people from applying. We can see that here.
before i go here I do believe in things like SNAP, and though I support an idea like TANF I have to say it needs to be fixed. If these sorts of numbers of people are being shaken out of the public assistance system for doing something voluntary and purely recreational perhaps it working and saving money. 12 people was not a lot, but when you find 200+ people dropped the process because of the tests it becomes more substantial. Plus it does show us that in a few cases of the people who were caught some actually went through the test and asked for rehab help on the other side. Before I thought that those people might not have been dedicated to rehab so they might be wasting money there, but it would seem lots of people who were on drugs were shaken out of the system or discouraged from continuing and the people who got to that point might be a bit more likely to get through rehab.
With an option to have benefits dependent on rehab and remaining clean and seeing all of this I actually think this sort of program does have it's place and should be implemented. It would help clean up the welfare system of people who just want to do drugs and collect. I am a huge advocate for personal choice in drug use, but when you are begging for assistance the money is being given to you for survival and need and it is wasted if those people use it on drugs. As a responsible working member of society you should be allowed to enjoy the recreation of drugs. It is recreation, and therefor we do not need to pay for you to do it.
The only opposing point I can see is in the case of something like weed where if it were legal you could grow it for free. Right now it is illegal and even if it were free you should not be using what is pretty much charity to do an illegal act which could cause you further problems. This in conjunction with limiting what can be purchased with TANF benefits would be a good start. I have to say the argument that it is not effective just got blown away for me because it does deter people from applying. We can see that here.