theclemsonkid
Member
It’s election time again, which means we get to hear the wonderful idea of “make all people on welfare take drugs tests, and if they fail they don’t get benefits!”. On a very, very, very basic level, this sounds wonderful. But on a very, very, very basic level; so does communism. Let’s take a look at what it would actually accomplish. How would we do that you ask? We do that by looking at someone who has already tried it: Florida.
From the Miami Herald: “The findings — that only 108 of the 4,086 people who took a drug test failed. The numbers, confirming previous estimates, show that taxpayers spent $118,140 to reimburse people for drug test costs, at an average of $35 per screening. The state’s net loss? $45,780. “That’s not counting attorneys and court fees and the thousands of hours of staff time it took to implement this policy,” Newton said. The law also didn’t impact the number of people who applied for benefits.”
And there you have it. A little over 2% of people failed the drug test and had their benefits taken away, while over 97% of the applicants did not, costing the state and its taxpayers $35 per drug test; or $118,140.
Secondly, let’s look at the actual 2% who did fail the test. The thought process is that if you take away the only money these people have, then they will no longer have the money to use drugs. Really? This clearly sounds concocted by some old white guy in congress who has no idea how drugs work in the real world. You know what happens when people don’t have money for drugs? Oh what’s that? You thought they just stopped taking drugs and went and got a job at Popeyes Chicken? Not quite.
When people are addicts, and they no longer have money, that’s when the crimes start. First it’s usually just petty theft of actual cash. If that’s not working, then just sell everything you already own, or anything you can lift from friends and family. Then the next step is stealing TV’s, computers, car stereos and the like of strangers to resell for money to buy drugs. Maybe they are just better with a .45 caliber so they go out and stick up someone who they know has drugs, or better yet; they try and hold up an actual drug dealer. Then the murders start, and the pay pack for murders… Yeah, it’s a really pretty picture that’s being painted here.
Also, let’s not forget about the fact that though some of these people do use welfare funds for drugs, most of these people also have children at home. Even if 80% of that money is going to drugs, the 20% that doesn’t, pays for rent, food, shelter, etc for their kids. I know most people don’t care about five black kids in the hood who’s mom is a crackhead. The problem is, if you kick them into the streets, guess what they start doing? You guessed it. Street drugs. So as you can see, it’s a viscous cycle.
I’m not saying that I like the idea of people using my tax dollars for their drug habit, because I don’t; at all. However, you have to be a little smarter than just looking on the surface, because as you have just read, it’s a lot deeper than that.
I’m 31 years old, and I can tell you two things with almost complete certainty. Marijuana, compared to other “drugs” and alcohol is much less dangerous, and two; the United States multi-billlion dollar “war on drugs” isn’t working. So we ought to start by decriminalizing pot, and then completely restructure our plan of attack on drugs that really do kill (the cocaine, heroin, crack of the world). How we go about that, I have no idea. What I do know however, is that the current system isn’t working…
From the Miami Herald: “The findings — that only 108 of the 4,086 people who took a drug test failed. The numbers, confirming previous estimates, show that taxpayers spent $118,140 to reimburse people for drug test costs, at an average of $35 per screening. The state’s net loss? $45,780. “That’s not counting attorneys and court fees and the thousands of hours of staff time it took to implement this policy,” Newton said. The law also didn’t impact the number of people who applied for benefits.”
And there you have it. A little over 2% of people failed the drug test and had their benefits taken away, while over 97% of the applicants did not, costing the state and its taxpayers $35 per drug test; or $118,140.
Secondly, let’s look at the actual 2% who did fail the test. The thought process is that if you take away the only money these people have, then they will no longer have the money to use drugs. Really? This clearly sounds concocted by some old white guy in congress who has no idea how drugs work in the real world. You know what happens when people don’t have money for drugs? Oh what’s that? You thought they just stopped taking drugs and went and got a job at Popeyes Chicken? Not quite.
When people are addicts, and they no longer have money, that’s when the crimes start. First it’s usually just petty theft of actual cash. If that’s not working, then just sell everything you already own, or anything you can lift from friends and family. Then the next step is stealing TV’s, computers, car stereos and the like of strangers to resell for money to buy drugs. Maybe they are just better with a .45 caliber so they go out and stick up someone who they know has drugs, or better yet; they try and hold up an actual drug dealer. Then the murders start, and the pay pack for murders… Yeah, it’s a really pretty picture that’s being painted here.
Also, let’s not forget about the fact that though some of these people do use welfare funds for drugs, most of these people also have children at home. Even if 80% of that money is going to drugs, the 20% that doesn’t, pays for rent, food, shelter, etc for their kids. I know most people don’t care about five black kids in the hood who’s mom is a crackhead. The problem is, if you kick them into the streets, guess what they start doing? You guessed it. Street drugs. So as you can see, it’s a viscous cycle.
I’m not saying that I like the idea of people using my tax dollars for their drug habit, because I don’t; at all. However, you have to be a little smarter than just looking on the surface, because as you have just read, it’s a lot deeper than that.
I’m 31 years old, and I can tell you two things with almost complete certainty. Marijuana, compared to other “drugs” and alcohol is much less dangerous, and two; the United States multi-billlion dollar “war on drugs” isn’t working. So we ought to start by decriminalizing pot, and then completely restructure our plan of attack on drugs that really do kill (the cocaine, heroin, crack of the world). How we go about that, I have no idea. What I do know however, is that the current system isn’t working…
