The data is in from Utah. Though the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) spent over $30,000 to drug test welfare applicants, they reportedly saved nearly $370,000 in unpaid benefits on the many who wouldn’t submit to screening. Utah is just one of several states that link welfare assistance to drug tests.
The Utah law requires that anyone applying for benefits under the state’s Family Employment Program take a Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory (SASSI) test. The test “identifies individuals who have a high probability of addictive behavior.” DWS may then require these individuals to submit to a drug test. Anyone testing positive must undergo treatment to receive benefits.
In the first year of implementation, of 4,730 welfare applicants:
- 1,020 scored high on the SASSI
- 466 were tested
- 12 tested positive
- 4 sought treatment
Whether this program is a success is still questionable considering that over 500 applicants were not required to submit to a drug test, and less than three percent of the tested applicants were positive. Some have suggested that if working Americans have to submit to drug tests to keep their jobs, why shouldn’t those who receive aid be required to as well. Other states—Oklahoma, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Florida to name a few—have or are considering going forward with the controversial move, even as North Carolina fights over whether drug testing should be part of welfare approval in that state.
As Sarah Preston of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina said in a recent press release, “Why the legislature was so adamant about passing this bill is unclear, since all available evidence shows that public aid applicants are no more likely to use drugs than the general public, and similar programs in other states have been found to be unconstitutional and fiscally wasteful.”
It appears the drug-test-for-welfare-benefits controversy isn’t going away any time soon.
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