system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Cashless cards for welfare recipients that limit payments to necessary items like food, rent and bills means more honesty in welfare.

Australia is currently rolling out a drug testing policy whereby welfare recipients can be randomly selected for drug tests. If they are found positive, they will have 80% of their welfare payments moved to a cashless debit card that only allows purchase/payment of food, rent, and bills. The remaining 20% will remain cash payments for anything. 

In my mind, this ensures honesty in welfare. It means people on welfare can't "waste" majority of their money on things like cigarettes (which are extremely expensive in Australia) or illegal drugs. I recently read a book that talked about the issues with SNAP payments, but the issue largely seemed to be that SNAP could only be used for food and nothing else. This system in Australia would leave money for clothes, school supplies, entertainment, miscellaneous household needs, while leaving food, rent, and bills available for payment through the cards. 

Now, I don't like the idea that tax dollars are funding welfare recipients who use drugs, so to me, this seems like a fair system. But it's been very controversial in Australia. 

One of the biggest criticisms has been the cost of the programs - I understand this, but still think that the cost of drug testing and cashless card system would be worth it to ensure people are fairly spending their welfare money. 

Looking forward to hearing some points. Thanks everyone!
gpt
If someone's an addict, they're going to spend their money on drugs. This system is too easy to get around, either with unscrupulous stores taking payments on the cards and handing the users cash (minus a discount), by buying food and selling it on at a loss, or whatever. For a system like this to work it has to be robust; this expensive initiative will not stop people from spending their welfare money on drugs. 

Offering them treatment programs would be a much more effective plan, helping them get off drugs and hopefully back into employment.