Someone in Gov must be reading the forums and seeing a lot of POed folks not wanting their tax dollars supporting idiots who want to stay loaded.

I am reading all over the net that Florida, Kentucky, and Missouri are requiring drug testing to get welfare.

IMO, that will cut a big chunk of money tax payers money that goes to supporting their habits.

So long weed smokers and other dopers.

"Florida is the first state that will require drug testing when applying for welfare (effective July 1st)! Some people are crying this is unconstitutional. How is this unconstitutional yet it's okay that every working person had to pass a drug test in order to support those on welfare?

Who else thinks all 50 states should apply this law?

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Open them FEMA Camp gates.

I wish Nevada will do that. I am sure our Governor who I am sure has Presidential ambitions would support that.

I'm all for it.

I think drug testing for welfare is just common sense. I had to be drug tested to work.

On the one hand, I support the idea of having a limited amount of non-cash survival assistance (like providing food and housing) being made available to people regardless of whether they can prove they aren't drug users.

But on the other hand, giving cash to addicts is just stupid. The government might as well be spending our tax dollars on heroin and crack. Virtually everyone I've known over the last decade who gets assistance in california (which is hundreds of people all up and down the coast) were addicts that spent part (or, in some cases, all) of their cash (or cashable) assistance on drugs.

I support drug testing for welfare recipients, but I think they should not press charges against people. They should make recovery/detox programs available to them, and deny them access to cash assistance.

I think the money spent to test all recipients would far exceed money spent to 'support' those who happen to be on drugs


it would be a regressive instead of a progressive move

there are already plenty of benchmarks in place for people to get assistance ,,

required work activity is one (that most people on drugs probably wouldnt be able to maintain)

regular reporting to caseworkers, and regular update of all information (something else most druggies would be too lazy or not sane enough to maintain) is another


there is also REQUIRED job searches which are documented and verified,,,


if someone doing drugs manages to do all these things, than they can also manage to be hired, and thats the point of helping people, is helping those who are ABLE to work (whether we approve of their hobbies or not)

trust me, working in a welfare office

the financial assistance is VERY slim and is extremely regulated and verified and re verified and reverified

the drug addicts receiving 'welfare' is as rare as the teacher sleeping with their students

Im sure it happens, but not enough to consider it the norm or to ask even MORE from those needing help

Lets drug test congress...they get a much fatter paycheck and their crooks, Lets cut them off if they can't stay clean!

haaa, now thats funny,,,,

If they test positive, they not only ease the tax burden, they can go to jail.
Sooooo, if they know they wouldn't pass, they'd just not apply.

Makes so much sense.

You obviously know nothing about the actual situation of many that are on welfare. Years ago I did some inspections for investors purchasing housing "projects". Virtually everyone was on welfare and the amount of drug paraphernalia in the units was incredible. And it was that way everywhere.

You think every office is just like your office? That all welfare employees are just like you and the people you worked with?

I certainly don't think that all welfare recipients are just like the hundreds of welfare receiving addicts I have known.

This leaves unanswered - what percentage?

And all of those people were in california. Some of them moved to california specifically so they could scam the system for more money.

If nevada has higher standards, more power to them (or you). I'm pretty sure (?) federal money is being wasted on california drug addicts, though.




Most of the addicts I knew were either travelers or people who came to soup kitchens I volunteered at. This selection criteria is biased towards addicts, though I have also known a great many welfare drug addicts who lived indoors and spent some of their money taking care of themselves.

Neither of us knows what the percentages really are.




Is there required work for people who qualify for the crazy check? I'm pretty sure there isn't. I've just known far to many crazy check people who don't do ****, ever, who kept their check the entire time I knew them.

If there is some nominal, on-paper requirement, then I can say that its easily scammed. Those people definitely didn't do any work.





In cali, this is a joke. Speaking from personal observation it seems to only take 2 or 3 days a month for people to fulfill these obligations.


Some of the addicts blow all of their money in the first week or two, spending the entire time out of their minds. Then they run out of money are are panicking with their withdrawal issues, then by the time they need to act all responsible and make a show for the government they no longer have the cash to render themselves temporarily incapable, and they are highly motivated to jump through the hoops.


I have known a few people who messed it up, though, and lost their money.



Thats one way to look at things. Personally, I feel differently. If people want to receive that help, they should be willing to curtail those habits to meet the expectations of the people who want to help them. Its just not okay to have expensive, self destructive hobbies and receive aid that is forcibly taken from others who disagree with it.

MsHarmony, you can give your money to drug addicts if you like. Don't force metalwing to do so.





I'm down. Is there a way to test them for prostitutes?

Yes, welfare recipient drug addicts are on their absolute best behavior when they go to the welfare office. They train each other in how to scam the system, and they rehearse their lies before they go in.

For these reasons, anyone working in welfare is likely to have a completely wrong perception of how bad the scamming is.

Once, when I was travelling, I met crazy-check drug addict who (wrongly) assumed I was without money or income. (Well I was without income that particular week because I was on vacation.) He wanted to make a deal with me, that he would walk me through the procedure for scamming the governent assistance system, insisting that I was 100% guaranteed to get a check (I think he said $760 a month - this was probably in 2009, for those of you who know the inner workings of these things). He said that after I completed the initial qualification process, I just had to file some paperwork a few times a year to keep it going, indefinitely. He'd been on it himself for many, many years (he also worked cash-jobs under the table, he lived in a motor home, ate at the soup kitchen, and had a TON of disposable money to spend on his favorite drugs), and he had successfully trained a half dozen people to scam the system. He wanted me to promise him 50% of my first few checks.

This conversation happened after I'd already spent 5 years meeting and interviewing people like him, so none of this came as any surprise to me. Well, the amount seemed low - some of my crazy check friends in socal said they got closer to $900 and others said $1200.

well, considering I work daily in a welfare office, housing division even, I am well aware that there are some who are on drugs

but what you might not know from random INSPECTIONS is that those people are quickly discovered and banned from the program

as I said, the status of those receiving assistance is constantly reviewed, and verified, and re reviewed and verified

the system isnt set up to let people be able to abuse it,, although SOME probably find a way around it

drug tests would be a waste of money,,,there are already enough requirements in place


a REVIEW of whether different regions are following the standards in their policies and enforcing them, would be a better investment..

Be nice to see proof of that.

Oh, but we will.
Just as soon as the numbers of those career welfare junkies start getting booted off and out of the system and into the prisons.

Who's up to adopt some ex-welfare kids who become property of the State.
Pretty good money in Foster Care Services.

as I said, there are probably offices and regions where the workers are too lazy to follow the policies already in place for verification and validation

sounds like your friend found one of those places

in this region, recipients have to do community service or other work related activity and its several hours a week and those who they do the work for report their behaviors if they are off

I believe you that they are quickly banned from the program when they are discovered.

But how could you possibly know how quickly they are discovered? Some of them are never discovered.

Im sure some of them arent, but the cost of making sure NONE arent would be more than what it is costing us to subsidize them in the first place

My 'friend'! He was like a used car salesman. I recognized that I'm sharing an anectdote filled with hearsay, and I don't consider this strong evidence for my belief. I absolutely allow that he was motivated to lie to me. But I have known other people, some of whom actually were friends of mine, who had no reason to lie whatsover. I've gone to public parks just to enjoy the sunshine and overheard the conversations in which people are advising each other on how they are to scam california's assistance programs.

You are right about regional variation in work ethic. There are also region variations in cultural values, and there seems to be a lot of personal discretion in how the case worker does their job.

this is the cash they receive in nevada

the first column is family members
the second column is the maximum they can have in income
the third row is their monthly cash benefit

1 $1,180 $253
2 1,594 318
3 2,007 383
4 2,421 448
5 2,835 513
6 3,249 578
7 3,663 643
8 4,077 708


thats a slim 100 per month per person

to receive that ANY other income has to be reported within a week or there is risk of being kicked off the program

any government programs the applicant applies to or taxes they file are reported to the welfare and any discrepency between claims gets them kicked out,,,


this month alone, at least 80 percent of recerts (the meeting they have to re verify their income and renew their assistance) have ended with discovery of inconsistencies, even if they just worked a week and didnt report it, it comes back in tax information the next year and the review is SUPPOSED to (and in our office DOES) pick up the discrepancy

the folks on assistance are regulated tooth and nail and watched even more closely, but not all employees or offices are doing the job that is already there for them to do,,,