Ethical Situation: Welfare Recipient Drug Testing?

SSI/SDI in Calif is for diabled people. MOST of them not all...are severly mentally ill, drug addicted people. I deal with them on a daily basis. They get
Medi-cal AND Medicare. Most are young... in their 20s to 50's....People that have worked their entire lives and retire get Medicare....We see all these homeless drug addicts and they are ALL on SSI. At the beginning of each month the psychiatric units are emtpy...during the 2nd week of the month we see the SAME people coming back...saying they are suicidal...WHY???? They have used up their entire SSI check on drugs and alcohol. Now they keep saying they are suicidal to get into the hospitals until their next check. They hospital hop all over the area. Stay 3 days in one, discharged and then go to another for 3 days...etc.....EVERY month the SAME people. So YES, they should be drug tested and if positive NO check. OR they MUST have a payee who oversees their funds to pay for food, rent,...etc...but most of these people would rather be homeless than not have their drugs. Go to skid row in downtown Los Angeles. There are numerous shelters for them. They do not want to go to the shelters, but rather be out on the streets in tents so they can continue to abuse the drugs and alcohol. The shelters do not allow drug abuse. So I pretty much stand by what I said. SSI IS a form of welfare....SDI is for the disabled. (just remember, most of the disabled would rather stay on SDI then return to work..NOT ALL...but most.

If we got rid of SSI, or drastically cut it, and made sure the recipients were who SHOULD have it, how much taxpayer money would that save? I'm all about cutting it all to the bone. I'm sick of working my tail off to hand money over. I quote a smart guy (my brother) "A hand out only teaches people to put their hand out." I firmly believe in drug tests for all recipients, whatever program you want to call it. And limits.

In MA, people that are on EBT, money given to them by the state. They gave a food side for food shopping and a cash side to pay bills and for taxed items. But before I was a nurse and I worked at a grocery store. Just so happened people withdrew money from the cash side to pay for smokes and scratch tickets and god knows what else. Obviously if you have money to pay for smokes you don't need OUR tax money in the first place. And they absolutly should have to be drug tested.

Why on earth would people who are receiving free money object to random drug testing?

And we all know the answer....

Tie benefit eligibility to mandatory group participation and work in a sheltered work environment if needed.

These people are suffering from a mental illness which needs and deserves treatment. (Nothing wrong with appointing a rep payee to help them with budgeting.) Failure to treat is far more expensive. Many (if not most) of these patients are using drugs and ETOH to self medicate poorly controlled mental illnesses.

Why criminalize the poor, mentally ill and chemically dependent?

Okay, I can see why everyone here is for the random drug testing. But what about the negative effects? Those that are drug-free are obviously unaffected (except for the inconvenience of the drug test). Those who test positive lose their benefits. I'm assuming when the OP used the term "welfare benefits", they meant food stamps and cash benefits, but mostly cash benefits. So the drug abusers have no income and no food. It's only a (very short) matter of time before they become either hungry or run out of drugs and begin to experience withdrawal symptoms, or both. They want food and drugs, but mostly just the drugs. What do they do? Well, they steal from the tax-payers, of course! They break into houses, break into cars, steal identities, and steal from stores. Anything to feed the addiction. Maybe they don't steal directly from you, but maybe they do. Maybe they break into your house while you're sleeping. Maybe they steal your wallet and open fraudulent credit card accounts in your name. Even if they steal cold medicine from the local drug store, you pay for it when the prices increase because of theft.

Then what? They go to jail if they're caught? There's more money deducted from your paycheck. And what about the costs of these drug tests that everyone wants to enforce? Who will pay for that? When you're applying for a job, your prospective employer takes on the cost. But welfare? Yeah, more money deducted from your paycheck. It adds up.

If people want to save money, then more money should be put into education, be it primary, secondary, or even drug and sex education. Stop the problem before it starts, people.

Also, here in HI, people on SSI who are known drug addicts are required to choose a representative to receive their cash benefits. I don't know how it is elsewhere. Addiction is a disability!

Thanks for laying out what I was trying to say....

First, I want to know how much money the 16-28 year old mom of 4 kids earned prior to getting all these benifits? I know that most of us and our parents have worked most of thier lives and paid into a system that is now paying out. Do I want to see these children with out good care? NO! But I am a great believer in personal responsibility. If I am held to be accountable for my resonsibility in the work force.....then those who receive benifits from my work should be held accountable to the same.

That is not true. Unless it varies from state to state, which I doubt. Even if it was true, it is to be used for living expenses. If they discover that you have financial assets, they will drastically lower your benefit if you manage to convince them not to kick you off altogether.

Therefore, SSI money is not the same as someone who EARNS their paycheck being able to do what they want with their money.