Drug tests pushed for welfare recipients

Opponents say tests are expensive and pose burden on poor.

Two Ohio Republican lawmakers want to impose mandatory drug screening on some 20,000 adults as a condition of receiving cash assistance — a program that the ACLU of Ohio says raises constitutionality concerns, casts suspicion on poor people and creates unnecessary barriers for low-income families.

State Rep. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, and Ron Maag, R-Lebanon, are sponsoring legislation to create a two-year pilot program in three unnamed counties for drug screening, testing and treatment for adults in Ohio Works First, which is the state’s cash welfare program. Roughly 115,000 Ohioans are in the program, 95,000 of whom are children.

Schaffer and Maag said repeatedly that it is not designed to be punitive; instead, the aim is to protect taxpayer money from being diverted to drug dealers and help addicts get off drugs.

Under their program, Ohio Works First applicants would take a professionally developed substance abuse screening test and if the test shows likelihood of drug dependence, the applicant would have to take a drug test. Those who test positive for illegal substances would be referred to drug treatment and re-tested in six months. The county Job and Family Services Department could still provide welfare assistance to the family members by bypassing the adult who fails the drug screening and test and sending payment to another responsible party.

The cost of screening and drug testing would be born by the state for those who pass. But if an applicant fails, he or she has to pay the test costs, the lawmakers said.

Lisa Wurm, policy manager for the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio, said the program unfairly targets poor people. Many people struggle with drug addiction, not just those on welfare, and there are long wait lists across the state for treatment programs, she said.

Schaffer and Maag said their program would set aside $100,000 a year for drug treatment for those who test positive, but they did not know how many people that would serve.

This marks the third time Schaffer has introduced a bill requiring drug testing for welfare recipients.

Thirteen states have drug testing programs for public assistance recipients and 18 others are considering them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Critics say the testing programs aren’t worth the costs. ThinkProgress, a liberal organization, said states have spent nearly $1 million screening and testing welfare recipients only to find their illegal drug use rates fall below the national drug use rates.

State Rep. Niraj Antani, R-Miami Twp., said the measure will help ensure that recipients who receive taxpayer dollars aren’t “using it to buy drugs.”

“The opponents of the bill will say they think elected officials should be drug tested,” he said. “I wholeheartedly agree. I would be happy to work with them on that issue.”

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