As Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig put it:
”...experts have demonstrated over and over again that there is no benefit to testing welfare recipients for drug abuse (and there certainly is a taxpayer cost). Drug testing is strictly a punitive measure, a tax on the poor levied as a penalty for their poverty. ”
For a cautionary tale, just look to Florida. In 2011, the state passed a law requiring all welfare recipients to be tested before they received help. Applicants had to come up with the $30 to $35 for the test; only those who passed would be reimbursed.
It turned out that of the 4,086 who took the tests, only 108 — just 2.6 percent — failed, most for marijuana. That’s far below the 6 percent state average of Floridians who use drugs. (An analysis by the state showed that the drug testing requirement didn’t tamp down applications.)
A few facts:
Not only was Florida left with mud on its face; it also had a small hole in its pocket. At about $35 per test, the state had to reimburse $118,140. After deducting the “savings” from the 108 who did not receive benefits, Florida lost $45,780.
In Tennessee very few welfare recipients test positive for drugs—just 37 of 16,107 Tennessee recipients did in the second half of 2014, or a mere .2 percent.