Drug Testing Recipients of Federal Aid Funds
- Submitted by: acheivements
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- Category: Politics: Moral Issues
- Date Submitted: 04/06/2012 05:42 PM
- Pages: 11
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Outline
Thesis Statement: Although there is a growing consensus approving the drug testing for welfare recipients, the long term costs involved with such a plan could be substantially higher than the testing is supposed to save.
I. The welfare reforms of 1996 included many changes to a system that had been in place for many years.
A. One of the changes allowed individual states to drug test those applying or receiving welfare benefits.
B. States would be responsible for putting people back to work, or risk having Federal allotments cut.
II. Some studies show the percentages of drug use is no higher for those that receive welfare benefits than it is for people who do not.
III. The method of drug screening chosen will have an impact on final costs, and drug tests will have instances of false positives. There will be more costs involved with administering another test, the more accurate the test, the higher the cost.
A. Urine analysis is the cheapest type of drug screening; it is also the least accurate.
B. Hair analysis is more accurate for the history of drug use; it is also more expensive.
C. Blood analysis is the most accurate, and is the most invasive.
IV. Government aid comes in many forms. Incentives, grants, low interest loans, health care, education and welfare, just to name a few.
A. There will be enormous costs involved with the impending lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of singling out one specific group to be drug tested based on the type of aid received.
B. Some states have decided to supply a questionnaire to ask about drug use, and to test based on these answers.
C. Some courts have already decided this type of testing is illegal. Minnesota just lost a major lawsuit by the ACLU challenging drug testing.
V. The argument for drug testing for welfare recipients is an extremely emotional subject. No one is suggesting turning a blind eye to drug use. The facts are, drug use is bad and illegal.
A. Again, studies have shown drug use...
Thesis Statement: Although there is a growing consensus approving the drug testing for welfare recipients, the long term costs involved with such a plan could be substantially higher than the testing is supposed to save.
I. The welfare reforms of 1996 included many changes to a system that had been in place for many years.
A. One of the changes allowed individual states to drug test those applying or receiving welfare benefits.
B. States would be responsible for putting people back to work, or risk having Federal allotments cut.
II. Some studies show the percentages of drug use is no higher for those that receive welfare benefits than it is for people who do not.
III. The method of drug screening chosen will have an impact on final costs, and drug tests will have instances of false positives. There will be more costs involved with administering another test, the more accurate the test, the higher the cost.
A. Urine analysis is the cheapest type of drug screening; it is also the least accurate.
B. Hair analysis is more accurate for the history of drug use; it is also more expensive.
C. Blood analysis is the most accurate, and is the most invasive.
IV. Government aid comes in many forms. Incentives, grants, low interest loans, health care, education and welfare, just to name a few.
A. There will be enormous costs involved with the impending lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of singling out one specific group to be drug tested based on the type of aid received.
B. Some states have decided to supply a questionnaire to ask about drug use, and to test based on these answers.
C. Some courts have already decided this type of testing is illegal. Minnesota just lost a major lawsuit by the ACLU challenging drug testing.
V. The argument for drug testing for welfare recipients is an extremely emotional subject. No one is suggesting turning a blind eye to drug use. The facts are, drug use is bad and illegal.
A. Again, studies have shown drug use...