Drug Testing For Welfare

Drug Testing for Welfare

By: Valerie Flores

As you may have already heard, Florida recently became the first state to require adults applying for cash welfare assistance (i.e., not food stamps and housing assistance) to undergo drug screenings. Florida Gov. Rick Scott defended the new rule by arguing that:

“It’s not right for taxpayer money to be paying for somebody’s drug addiction. … On top of that, this is going to increase personal responsibility, personal accountability. We shouldn’t be subsidizing people’s addiction.”

The new law, according to Scott, would ensure cash welfare funds go to their primary target (disadvantaged children) and also provide incentives for welfare recipients to not use drugs. The sentiment driving Scott’s reasoning is admirable: there are needy people, and the government is trying to help them, but many are abusing this act of kindness by using the funds on drugs instead of their children. Yet, there are problems with the basic logic of requiring drug tests for welfare recipients.

I should state up front that I believe making “drugs” illegal is largely a mistake, with the exclusion of several hard drugs. There is simply no good reason to consider many of the commonly used recreational drugs, such as marijuana, more dangerous than tobacco or alcohol. Arguably, marijuana is the safest of the three. But this is an issue for another essay, so let us focus on more practical questions concerning the new Florida law.

The most powerful argument against the new law stems from a constitutional standpoint. Organizations such as the ACLU have argued that the Fourth Amendment protects citizens from being searched without probable cause. As the amendment reads:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be...