Drug Testing of TANF Participants

Should welfare recipients get drug testing?, By Alan Greenblatt, March 31, 2010, National Public Radio: “Kasha Kelley believes that people on welfare need to spend their money on things like diapers and detergent – not drugs. Kelley, who has served in the Kansas state House since 2005, sponsored legislation to require a large share of the state’s welfare recipients to be tested for drug use, or risk losing their benefits. ‘I get a lot of constituents who mention their frustrations with neighbors they know are receiving some sort of public assistance,’ she says. ‘They don’t feel the money’s being used right when they know that drugs are being used in the house, and I would concur with that.’ The Kansas House passed Kelley’s bill overwhelmingly last year, but it has not won Senate approval. She hasn’t given up, though – and neither have legislators in at least nine other states who have introduced similar measures…”