Welfare and drugs

Many taxpaying Missourians will applaud current legislative efforts to restrict or cut off welfare payments to recipients who use illegal drugs. Why, they ask, should taxpayers foot the bill for addictions?

The simple answer: They shouldn't.

But the issue is more complex than requiring drug tests for the more than 40,000 Missouri families who receive payments from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

For example, what about the children or other dependents of a welfare-recipient head of the household who tests positive for illegal drug use? Should everyone be cut off?

Should those who test positive for drugs be cut off permanently, or just for a limited amount of time?

Who would monitor the testing and enforce whatever regulations the Missouri Legislature might impose? And are legislators who favor drug testing for welfare recipients willing to fund the cost of enforcement when cuts are being made throughout state government?

These questions need not put a halt to the effort to regulate welfare recipients and drug use, but they will need to be addressed before any meaningful piece of legislation is passed and sent to the governor for a signature.

This proposal needs careful deliberation.