¶ … People Welfare Drug Testing Must a topic statement Must begin introductory paragraph a succinct thesis In the United States, the concept of welfare has been one of the most widely debated social institutions of contemporary and historic times. Supporters of this social program believe that it provides a valuable means of supporting the poor, the disenfranchised, and those who quite literally cannot afford other opportunities for themselves. Those against the concept of welfare believe that it simply provides a means for those who are indolent and unmotivated to have even less motivation to improve their own socio-economic positions because they can essentially attain what they perceive is free money, and what in reality is funding from hardworking taxpayers. As such, those who adhere to this viewpoint believe that individuals on welfare are actually exploiting the socio-economic system in this country. Although the reality of the issue debated by these two extreme viewpoints is likely somewhere closer to the middle, no one can deny the fact that mandatory drug testing can certainly provide a resolution to these conflicting viewpoints, as it can help ensure that less individuals are merely using welfare funding to support their negative habits, and still permits those who needs these resources to attain them. Therefore, it is quite clear that people on welfare should certainly have drug testing as a mandatory requisite for these benefits.

Of the many reasons why it is vital to implement drug testing for welfare recipients, the most eminent is due to the fact that mandating this requisite will greatly reduce the incidence of individuals squandering their welfare benefits on drugs. One of the foremost concerns of welfare dissidents is that hardworking Americans should not see their money go to people who would rather buy drugs than simply get a job (Grovum, 2014). It is egregiously improper if this social institution were used to fund the drug habits of people who could not otherwise afford such drugs. However, the reality of this situation is that whether or not welfare is accessed in funds, food stamps, WIC, or even housing benefits such as Section 8, individuals who receive these benefits can leverage them to facilitate the purchase of drugs. Bartering or trading can regularly transforms what is intended as a social program to provide economic benefit for those who are in need to a means by which they can actually support their drug habits. Such an occurrence is a travesty and effectively makes a mockery of the social system in the United States. However, by simply implementing drug testing as a requisite for welfare benefits, policy demonstrators can virtually ensure that individuals are not abusing what is actually a privilege. Moreover, implementing such policy would also help to create an environment in which welfare funding could actually be used for the basic financial purposes for which it was designed -- to help individuals who are poor overcome poverty.

The policy advocated within this document regarding drug testing is fairly straight forward. In order for individuals to receive benefits for welfare, they must first pass a drug test that screens for all of the most damaging (and popular) drugs that are currently in use today. Moreover, to continue receiving these benefits, that policy should mandate that recipients continue to submit to regular drug testing. If individuals fail a drug test for any particular substance, they should have their welfare benefits terminated. Other policymakers have mandated that those who fail tests must "get treatment in order to get cash" (Associated Press, 2014). After a period of six months, people who have failed a drug test one time may be allowed to apply for welfare benefits again. However, any further failure of drug screenings on the part of those who have already failed them once will result in a permanent removal of their privilege to attain welfare benefits. This policy will...

Although supporting a full-fledged drug habit may be costly) most drugs are relatively inexpensive to attain. There are even certain drugs that were created to appeal to people of lower socio-economic classes, such as crack cocaine. Additionally, a number of drugs today used by people are extremely addictive. Substances such as crack, heroin, cocaine, methamphetamines, barbiturates, and ecstasy are not only highly prevalent throughout the inner-city streets that several recipients of welfare benefits inhabit across the country, but also have the propensity to distort reality so that users think of little else other than their next fix. The powerful nature of these drugs plays a very large role in why it is necessary to mandate drug testing for welfare benefits. There may be individuals who do not even want to use these drugs, who realize that they are noxious and are contributing to their fate as a member of a low socio-economic class, who still continue to abuse these drugs because they are addicted. Such people certainly need treatment and help, and not free aid to continue supporting their habits. In this respect, then, terminating welfare benefits for those who fail drug tests may actually serve as an incentive to get them the proper medical assistance they need (Berggoetz and Cook, 2014), instead of facilitating the resources for them to continue abusing drugs.
One might also successfully argue that the entire methodology for which the welfare system was designed supports the concept of drug testing, since there is an implicit temporal element associated with welfare programs. The point of creating these programs was not to permit individuals to merely utilize these benefits for all of their lives -- to have entire families that use them and create more families who are all on welfare. Such a situation is detrimental to children, whom some in favor of drug testing for welfare recipients are trying to protect (Robles, 2013). The point of welfare is to provide temporary assistance to those in need. People who are making an earnest effort to better their social and economic status (and who are actually trying to get off welfare so that they can provide a better quality of life for themselves and for their families) are the ones to whom this social program is targeted. Welfare is mean as a means to an end, not as an end in itself. Unfortunately, there are some people who perceive welfare as a right, not a privilege, and who consider this social program as a way to successfully maintain a low budget lifestyle. These people are the ones that mandatory drug testing may successfully deter from accessing welfare benefits, since drug use can create a false high that results in complacency and socio-economic stasis. Those who are actively looking to find their own source of funding (instead of that provided by the government) will eventually no longer need welfare benefits. Drug use among welfare recipients corresponds to a greater reliance on this social system, which is why drug testing should be implemented to prevent this abused of what is actually a privilege.

Since the aim of welfare is to provide temporary relief to those in economic need, their primary objectives should be to attain a job so that, eventually, they will be able to procure their own funding and no longer need welfare. It is important to realize that using drugs is counterproductive towards finding a job. There are a number of reasons why this statement is true, primarily because there are several places of employment that issue drug testing for its employees. Florida's governor is…