system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: I don't think it's wrong or totally outrageous to drug test welfare recipients.

*Edit: Thanks for all the info. I more or less quit responding because a couple people effectively changed the way I was looking at the issue. To be honest though, I don't think I'll come back here again. I wanted to have a discussion, and it was nice to talk with some of you, but I don't have enough comment karma to spare for all the downvotes I got when responding to comments. That seems to be a theme in most posts in this sub. 

Like I said, I appreciate all the responses, and a big thanks to those who took the time to respond to me and add sources and information to back up their reasoning.*

I'm really struggling with this one, CMV. This is my first post here. Reading through threads concerning this issue here on Reddit has made me wonder if I'm just a heartless jackass or not since it appears most of Reddit goes against the grain with me on this issue here. 

I don't feel like it's wrong to drug test welfare recipients. I agree somewhat with the view that if I am required to pass a drug test to even have a shot at a job, a welfare recipient should have to do the same to receive assistance which they're not required to work for. I've heard that a 30 day rehabilitation option is offered in some states for people who test positive, and benefits are cut off for those who refuse that option. I don't agree with punishing someone for addiction and not offering help, but if the drug testing states implemented this policy, I don't think I'd see any problems with it at all. 

I feel this way because I've been in a lot of situations where this has been a relevant issue. Cashiering for a small town grocery store growing up, knowing the people using food stamps at the counter, and also knowing that the majority if them are using drugs (small town) helped me form an opinion early on. I didn't think it was fair that at 16, my tax money was being used to help someone pay for food when they spent their money on drugs. If they wanted food, why not by it instead of drugs? Of course, now that I'm older I realize that not everything is so black and white, and that this goes deeper than my 16 year old opinion. 

I'm a home health nurse that works with pediatric patients in their homes. My patients are almost always in very poor, run down neighborhoods. All of these families are on food stamps and government assistance (my nursing contract is paid through their Medicaid) and literally, out of the last 10 families I've worked with, 4 of the parents used some kind of drug in front of me, and at least 3 more parents were very obviously using drugs. I'm not counting alcohol or tobacco use either, just what's actually being tested for. 

I have compassion and empathy for people, and I'm very left-leaning on most issues. I'm 100% for human rights, and I try to imagine myself in other's shoes before forming an opinion, but this is something that I just don't see a problem with, especially if rehabilitation is an offered option. I've also struggled with my own habits and addictions to alcohol, nicotine, and marijuana. I realize not all people are the same, but any time I've needed a job badly enough, I've been able to kick the weed and nicotine long enough to pass a pre employment screening. I feel like that's my responsibility, and that plays into why I've formed the opinion that I have.

So help me out, CMV. Change my view.

Edit: I should also probably note that I understand the low statistics on how many people actually do end up popping positive in these tests, and I realize that it's costing a lot of tax money to do so. I don't think it's a waste of tax payer money if these people are being offered an option to be rehabilitated.
gpt
If you acknowledge that the cost of administering the drug tests is excessive and doesn't effectively combat abuse of the system, why are you for it?  It's wasted money that could to go a better cause.

The moral argument against the drug testing is simple: if you're not solving an actual problem, then all you're doing is vilifying the poor. 

By inaccurately portraying welfare recipients as self drug users, you're painting a picture of the poor as being undeserving of help of any form.  That's just destructive.