Drug testing in Florida. As numbers of such programs grew in the US, one study directly analysed the difference in employment and earnings between welfare recipients who were and were not using.
A pilot test of a drug testing regime for welfare recipients in Florida concluded in 2003 that drug testing did not produce reliable estimates of the level of drug use among TANF recipients. (26) In particular, many recipients determined through a validated screening tool as likely to have a substance abuse problem nonetheless tested negative in urine drug screens.
Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. Drug Testing in Child Welfare: Practice and Policy. Considerations. HHS Pub. No. (SMA) 10-4556 Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2010. Originating Office Office of Program Analysis and Coordination, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment.
What 13 states discovered after spending hundreds of thousands drug testing the poor Out of more than 263,000 applicants, less than 1 percent were rejected from TANF for drugs. Amanda Michelle Gomez Twitter, Josh Israel Twitter Apr 26, 2019, 11:59 am.
Drug testing works together with another budget measure that removes exemptions from mutual obligation requirements for income support recipients who are temporarily incapacitated due to drug or alcohol dependence.
Tennessee’s Drug Testing of Welfare Applicants Falls Flat. Feb 12, 2016, 4:41pm Teddy Wilson. Many of the states that have implemented these laws have had similar results to Tennessee, with few welfare benefit applicants testing positive for drugs.
Welfare reform in 1996 drastically downsized and radically altered safety net cash assistance programs. Proponents of the bills argue that: (1) drug users shouldn’t be allowed to access public benefits and (2) that denying benefits through drug testing will save the state money. Both of these arguments are flawed.