At least 15 states have recently passed laws requiring welfare recipients to submit to drug testing, with Arkansas and West Virginia being the most recent to join the parade. These laws have been characterized as an attempt to demonize the poor and attacked on a variety of grounds, ranging from the constitutional to the practical. But proponents and opponents of such legislation are missing something important: Welfare recipients aren’t the only beneficiaries of government largesse, and the logic underlying such laws could support drug testing on just about everyone.
Farmers, businesses and a host of others receive significant direct subsidies from the government. However, a far greater number of Americans receive indirect subsidies in the form of tax breaks, such as the home mortgage deduction, tax-free employer-provided health insurance or the child tax credit. Rather than sending people checks, the government simply reduces their taxes.
So how does this relate to drug testing welfare recipients? If the principle underlying the drive to drug test the poor is that drugs are bad and government money should not go to those who do them, then the government should test all recipients of government money, including government employees and contractors. Those whom the government pays for services rendered can argue that the government has no interest in what they do with the money they earn. That still leaves the rest of us.
