Georgia to require drug tests for welfare benefits

[NoDak]

My favorite part is where junkies think rationally and budget their finances to account for chasing the dragon every month.

But they don't have to do that. Just give them a monthly welfare check. Right?

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Get real. You're talking about real problems/crime here. Not catching a few junkies who are getting 200 bucks a month via testing that far outweighs in costs any potential savings. This isn't about public safety it's about keeping a few junkies from getting their grubby little fingers on our tax money. Which I'm all for. But not when doing so costs more than the actual problem does. That's just stupid. And if you want to know why it's being done just follow the contracts for the testing.

It's more than a few. Ever heard the term, "idle hands"? If you expect illegitimate welfare holders living the live-long day and resisting the urge to while those days away in a drug or alcohol induced high, then I suggest you re-evaluate your thinking process.

My only point is that it's a step in the right direction and not needless because it doesn't make all the problems go away.

Really, my only beef here is that it holds up those who legitimately need assistance. So instead of having the proper paperwork ready to mail in, they have to make a drive to a piss-testing center because some 2-bit crack dealer/user is using the house provided by us tax-payers as a base of operations. But of course being the libjew that you are, you're looking at the wrong angle.

 

[NoDak]

Not catching a few junkies who are getting 200 bucks a month

200 bucks a month is all a welfare recipient gets, huh?

 

[Rock Slamdance]

But they don't have to do that. Just give them a monthly welfare check. Right?

And...snap.

 

[superpunk]

It's more than a few. Ever heard the term, "idle hands"? If you expect illegitimate welfare holders living the live-long day and resisting the urge to while those days away in a drug or alcohol induced high, then I suggest you re-evaluate your thinking process.

My only point is that it's a step in the right direction. My only beef here is that it holds up those who legitimately need assistance. So instead of having the proper paperwork ready to mail in, they have to make a drive to a piss-testing center because some 2-bit crack dealer/user is using the house provided by us tax-payers as a base of operations.

Plus they have to front the money for a test, which again, not that great a plan for someone who is already on welfare.

Again Florida's test which was one of the most diligent and involved resulted in failed tests for ONLY 2% of welfare recipients. And that includes people who simply did not show up for the test, possibly because they simply didn't have the money to front.

It's why these laws are fiscally idiotic, and continue to be ruled unconstitutional in every place that implements them. They are nothing but marketing tools for idiots who like how they sound and make people feel.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Plus they have to front the money for a test, which again, not that great a plan for someone who is already on welfare.

Again Florida's test which was one of the most diligent and involved resulted in failed tests for ONLY 2% of welfare recipients. And that includes people who simply did not show up for the test, possibly because they simply didn't have the money to front.

It's why these laws are fiscally idiotic, and continue to be ruled unconstitutional in every place that implements them. They are nothing but marketing tools for idiots who like how they sound and make people feel.

So it's fiscally responsible to do nothing and leave things as they may?

Again, it's just a step, but a good one. I hope they expound on it very soon.

 

[NoDak]

A quick google search showed this.

In California,single parent with one child will get $480.00 cash and $230.00 food stamps per month.Each child about $78.00 each per month depending on what county they live in.Pre depression days.Now,about zero or so .We are broke!

Double parent; male would have to work in a county building,look for work if no unemployment.Basicly,no free ride.Single parent would have to get a job when youngest child is school age.Double parent with 3 children-about $980.00 + $480.00 food stamps.

So, a single mother with 1 (one, ONE!) kid will get a total of 710.00 per month in gov't assistance. (really. Now how many career welfare mommas have only 1 kid) Two parents and three kids would bring in 1460.00

Now, I'm not a math guy, but that looks to be more than the 200.00 brought up above.

 

[superpunk]

So it's fiscally responsible to do nothing and leave things as they may?

Do you know what "fiscal" means, Robert?

Yes, in this context, when the solution to a problem costs more money than the problem it is meant to address, it makes fiscal sense to not implement that "solution". What we've found is this problem does not merit this response. But it makes a convenient political talking point because people are either too stupid or lazy to realize they are being played emotionally here. So they keep doing this in states where it will play well.

Again, it's just a step, but a good one. I hope they expound on it very soon.

Don't count on it. The courts rule against these laws over and over again.

 

[jiggyfly]

Isn't the cost of a piss test like 30 dollars?

30 dollars is a lot to some people especially ones who don't have a job.

 

[superpunk]

A quick google search showed this.


So, a single mother with 1 (one, ONE!) kid will get a total of 710.00 per month in gov't assistance. (really. Now how many career welfare mommas have only 1 kid) Two parents and three kids would bring in 1460.00

Now, I'm not a math guy, but that looks to be more than the 200.00 brought up above.

my 200 dollar number was super scientific I'm glad you took the time to refute it.

let's look at the numbers for a state that implemented this program, what sort of savings are they looking at?

These initial numbers also suggest that the welfare drug testing program will not be a big money saver for the state. Under the law, while welfare applicants and recipients must pay for the drug tests out of their own pockets, the state must reimburse those who test negative. At an estimated $30 a pop for the drug tests, that creates significant expenditures for the state.

Those expenditures are canceled out by the savings the state makes by not making welfare payments to those who test positive. If the current 2% positive test result rate holds true, the Tampa Tribune calculates, the state could save somewhere between $40,000 and $60,000 a year.

But that's a drop in the bucket in a program that is predicted to cost $178 million this year, and it doesn't include staff costs and other resources the state has expended to implement the program -- nor the cost if even one person testing positive ends up in an emergency room or courtroom as a result. And even the small savings projected by the Tribune could be wiped out by the cost of defending what is likely to be found an unconstitutional infringement on the rights of Florida welfare applicants and recipients to be free of unwarranted searches.

We did it you guys. We stopped the junkies. Hooray.

 

[jiggyfly]

So it's fiscally responsible to do nothing and leave things as they may?

Again, it's just a step, but a good one. I hope they expound on it very soon.

What stats are you using to say things are bad now?

What percentage of drug users do you think are taking advantage of the system and how does this address the reall issues of the people who are clean and abusing the system.

These seems to me to be a solution in search of a problem.

 

[Jon88]

What stats are you using to say things are bad now?

What percentage of drug users do you think are taking advantage of the system and how does this address the reall issues of the people who are clean and abusing the system.

These seems to me to be a solution in search of a problem.

If people are on drugs and on welfare then they're most likely spending that money on drugs. That's not what it's designed for.

 

[Iamtdg]

I am absolutely in favor of this. It should be done laterally across this nation.

It is also absolutely not an invasion of privacy. If you want privacy, go support yourself. But, as long as I'm feeding you, you should show me proof you are using the help for what it's intended for, and not for your own self-indulgent nonsense.

Pretty much as long as you are living under my roof, you will obey my fucking rules, or you can move the fuck out and make your own.

 

[Iamtdg]

A quick google search showed this.


So, a single mother with 1 (one, ONE!) kid will get a total of 710.00 per month in gov't assistance. (really. Now how many career welfare mommas have only 1 kid) Two parents and three kids would bring in 1460.00

Now, I'm not a math guy, but that looks to be more than the 200.00 brought up above.

Reward for having more kids. It's a vicious cycle that has run ridiculously unchecked for many years.

 

[lons]

I have random drug tests at work to make money to which I pay taxes on... some toward our welfare system. Is it to large a jump that the very people I am having to help while taking these drug tests do the same? This is like the folks that object to having to have a valid photo ID to vote.

It doesn't target anyone except the ones that are breaking the law.

Personally this isn't going far enough. You still have folks like this gentleman... Watch the whole thing and tell me that isn't wide spread...

[video=youtube;HDrwskLYCrY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDrwskLYCrY[/video]

 

[superpunk]

lets drug test everyone, all the time. Like before you use any part of the govt. infrastructure or send a letter you have to pee in a cup first and wait a few weeks for the results. You pay for it up front then if you pass the test the government will reimburse you.

 

[Iamtdg]

lol That's quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever seen anyone say on a msg board. Yeah, testing citizens that don't rely on the gov't in their daily lives is the same as drug testing people to make sure they are using the free money for what it's for.

Derp is right.

 

[superpunk]

lol That's quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever seen anyone say on a msg board. Yeah, testing citizens that don't rely on the gov't in their daily lives is the same as drug testing people to make sure they are using the free money for what it's for.

Derp is right.

You don't rely on government in your daily life? Did you build all the roads you drive on yourself?

We haven't gone far enough with the testing bro lets push it to the limits.

 

[Iamtdg]

You don't rely on government in your daily life? Did you build all the roads you drive on yourself?

Nope, I paid taxes to build those roads.

But, you did get me. I didn't do the actual labor. Good one.

 

[superpunk]

Nope, I paid taxes to build those roads.

oh I see, you paid all of the taxes to fully fund the roads you drive on. You are fully self-sufficient and don't need nothin' from the government. My bad. You can avoid the testing then.