Wisconsin has passed legislation that requires welfare applicants to be tested or screened for illegal drugs before qualifying for public assistance. 

This is not a new concept. In 2015, Wisconsin added a provision in its budget bill that required drug testing for “certain individuals” who participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment and Training program. Then in 2018, outgoing Governor Scott Walker signed a bill requiring drug tests for all recipients of the SNAP benefit. The Governor and the Republican lawmakers believed that the mandated drug tests promoted self-sufficiency and claimed that someone shouldn’t get public money if they could not pass a drug test.

Although the drug test policy is easy to sell politically, it faces much criticism. Opponents of the drug test for SNAP argue that such legislation subjects deserving recipients to unnecessary stigmatization. 

Most of those who qualify for SNAP are the elderly and those with disabilities. Subjecting these populations to a mandatory drug test ignores the basic logic of ‘deserving.’ Additionally, opponents think it will prevent many deserving individuals from receiving program benefits.

Similar laws have been ineffective in other states requiring a drug test for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, and administering the test is expensive. 

For example, only 2.5% of those tested failed in Florida, and costs between seven states were over $1 million to perform the tests. Opponents of this policy quickly point out it is economically inviable and that the overhead costs are staggering for such limited results.

Those against the drug test also cite its violation of the United States Department of Agriculture policy and the Constitution. In a case against the Florida law on TANF, the U.S. Court of Appeals declared the law unconstitutional, ruling that it violates the Fourth Amendment. The Wisconsin drug test legislation is likely to attract court battles as well.

Drug abuse should be discouraged everywhere, but the deserving should benefit from public assistance programs free of stigmatization and unnecessary red tape. 

The question for debate is, should WI require drug testing to qualify for government assistance?