Reverb Press šŸ“ˆ
  • Home
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Investment
  • Real Estate
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Investment
  • Real Estate
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
Reverb Press šŸ“ˆ
No Result
View All Result
Home Uncategorized

Another GOP FAIL: 0.2 Percent Of Tennessee Welfare Recipients Found To Use Illegal Drugs

Reverb Press by Reverb Press
February 11, 2015
0
Another GOP FAIL 0.2 Percent Of Tennessee Welfare Recipients Found To Use IllAnother GOP FAIL 0.2 Percent Of Tennessee Welfare Recipients Found To Use Illegal Drugsegal Drugs
0
SHARES
2
VIEWS

Republicans in various states continue to push for laws which would drug test welfare recipients, despite the fact that a very minuscule number of those on welfare test positive for using drugs.

The latest example is Tennessee, where aĀ grand total of 37 peopleĀ out of 16,017 applicants for the Families First cash assistance program between July and December were found to have illegal drugs in their systems.Ā  That amounts to 0.2 percent, which is significantly less than the state’s overallĀ 8 percentĀ rate of illegal drug use. This mirrors the results found in other states, such as Arizona, where a massiveĀ 2 peopleĀ out of a total of 108,408 who were tested over a 3 year period were found guilty of using illegal drugs.

You might also like

Republican Caught Using a Fake Endorsement from a Democratic Governor in Time for the Midterms

Ex-CIA, FBI Agent: ā€˜I Wouldn’t Stoop to Wipe My A**’ With GOP’s House Intel Report

Parkland Shooting Student Protesters Turned Away From Senate Offices

Then there is Florida, where a 2011 law requiring welfare recipients to pass a drug test wasĀ found to be unconstitutionalĀ late last year. Florida’s law allowed for the testing of all welfare recipients, even if there was no evidence of them using illegal drugs, which was why it was ultimately ruled unconstitutional. Only 2.6 percent of those tested in Florida yielded a positive result before the law came under scrutiny, and the law was deemed to be a money loser for the state since there were not enough positive results to offset the costs of giving the tests. And lest you believe that Florida GOP governor Rick Scott was only concerned about weeding out drug using welfare recipients, there is the small matter of hisĀ involvement with Solantic Corporation,Ā a health care company that just happens to be in the business of conducting drug tests.

Nonetheless,Ā at least 24 statesĀ either are currently testing welfare recipients or are trying to pass laws in order to do so. This is despite the persistent low rate of drug usage found in welfare recipients, who, despite the typical conservative demonizing of the poor, areĀ more frugal than the average person is and thus have less money to spend on illegal drugs. Nor are the mostly Republican politicians who campaign for these laws dissuaded by the fact that the costs to their respective states outweigh any savings from not having to pay out welfare benefits to those who test positive.

So why then do Republicans continue to push for these draconian laws thatĀ do not amount to a hill of beansĀ and only benefit the companies giving the tests?

Because their constituents love these kind of laws, and it provides a nice ideological side-show for conservative politicians, just like gay marriage and abortion do. In one poll,Ā 88 percentĀ of Republicans responded ā€œyesā€ to the poll question,Ā ā€œshould all welfare recipients be tested for drugs.ā€Ā Ā In another,Ā 87 percentĀ of Republicans say that they favor drug testing welfare recipients.

Part of the conservative narrative consists of demonizing the poor and heartlessly stereotyping them as people with moral and personal shortcomings. In short, poor people need to be scrutinized and micro-managed by the government so that they don’t ā€œstealā€ our tax dollars or enjoy the same liberties that those who are more well off enjoy, which includes using drugs. It’s the exact opposite of how these hypocrites themselves wish to be treated by the government. In their convoluted logic, drug using welfare recipients don’t need government assistance so they can eat.

It also plays on an inaccurate stereotype that poor people are more likely to use drugs than any other demographic, which has not been proven to be the case. Racist stereotypes may be in play as well, despite the fact that whites use illegal drugs at a higher rate than blacks do, even as blacks are more likely to be arrested and imprisoned for drug crimes than whites are.

So it’s clear that despite all of the legitimate reasons that it is bad policy to make welfare benefits contingent on passing drug tests, Republicans will continue to do so for strictly political reasons. For that, you can thank your typical conservative voter who clamor for these bad policies.

Previous Post

Alabama’s Roy Moore Proves He’s The Dumbest Chief Justice In The Nation (VIDEO)

Next Post

Kayla Mueller Is Already The Target Of Right-Wing Lies

Reverb Press

Reverb Press

Related Posts

Republican Caught Using a Fake Endorsement from a Democratic Governor in Time for the Midterms

Republican Caught Using a Fake Endorsement from a Democratic Governor in Time for the Midterms

by Reverb Press
October 10, 2018
0

Colorado Republican Caught Faking Endorsement From Democratic Governor In a sign of desperation, and perhaps an indication of how defensive...

Ex-CIA, FBI Agent ā€˜I Wouldn’t Stoop to Wipe My A’ With GOP’s House Intel Report

Ex-CIA, FBI Agent: ā€˜I Wouldn’t Stoop to Wipe My A**’ With GOP’s House Intel Report

by Reverb Press
March 12, 2018
0

As the GOP led House Intelligence Committee ended it’s investigation abruptly Monday, in a shocking partisan action, without so much...

Parkland Shooting Student Protesters Turned Away From Senate Offices

Parkland Shooting Student Protesters Turned Away From Senate Offices

by Reverb Press
February 21, 2018
0

A group of students,Ā some of whom survived the mass murder atĀ Parkland High SchoolĀ last week, arrived at the Florida capital in...

2nd Alleged Wife Beater Resigns from Trump White House

2nd Alleged Wife Beater Resigns from Trump White House

by Reverb Press
February 9, 2018
0

David Sorenson, a White House speechwriter who had worked closely with controversial White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller, has...

Next Post
Kayla Mueller Is Already The Target Of Right-Wing Lies

Kayla Mueller Is Already The Target Of Right-Wing Lies

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Reverb Press Logo Light Backgrounds

Ā© COPYRIGHT 2021 REVERBPRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Finance
  • Investment
  • Real Estate
  • Contact Us

Ā© COPYRIGHT 2021 REVERBPRESS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.