Drug Testing Welfare Recipients in Ontario

Coming soon to a
social assistance program near you?

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[U.S.] Drug Testing Welfare Recipients:
Recent Proposals and Continuing Controversies
http://aspe.hhs.gov/hsp/11/DrugTesting/ib.shtml
October 2011
This paper discusses the prevalence of substance abuse among TANF recipients, how States typically address substance abuse in their welfare programs, the variety of drug testing proposals now under discussion in States, and legal and practical issues raised by drug testing proposals.
Source:
Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
http://aspe.hhs.gov/_/index.cfm

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
http://www.hhs.gov/

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[U.S.] Punishing Poverty
Editorial
October 31, 2011
Being poor and needing public assistance is not a crime. Yet some states and cities, including New York City, are gratuitously inflicting punitive measures on people who seek government help. Gov. Rick Scott of Florida signed a new law in May that requires all applicants for the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program to submit a urine sample and pass a drug test. Last week, a federal judge in Orlando temporarily enjoined enforcement of that intrusive policy on grounds it violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable searches.
Source:
New York Times

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States Adding Drug Test as Hurdle for Welfare
By A. G. Sulzberger
October 10, 2011
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As more Americans turn to government programs for refuge from a merciless economy, a growing number are encountering a new price of admission to the social safety net: a urine sample. Policy makers in three dozen states this year proposed drug testing for people receiving benefits like welfare, unemployment assistance, job training, food stamps and public housing. Such laws, which proponents say ensure that tax dollars are not being misused and critics say reinforce stereotypes about the poor, have passed in states including Arizona, Indiana and Missouri.
Source:
New York Times

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Below, you can read a few of the submissions that the Ontario Government received in the course of the 2001 consultation.

Consultation on Mandatory
Drug Treatment for Welfare Recipients (PDF - 40K, 5 pages)
February 6, 2001
Brief Submitted (to the Ontario Government)
by The Medical Reform Group of Ontario
Background
During the 1999 election campaign, the Progressive Conservative Party's "Blueprint" document outlined a plan to test all welfare recipients in Ontario for drug use, based on an argument that drug use among welfare recipients constitutes a barrier to obtaining and maintaining employment. On November 14th 2000, John Baird, Minister of Community and Social Services, announced that the government of Ontario was seeking consultations regarding its plan to mandate drug testing of welfare recipients. The Medical Reform Group of Ontario is responding to the invitation for consultations.

In addition to being in contravention to the Ontario Human Rights Code which considers addiction as a disability, mandatory testing and treatment of welfare recipients violates their constitutional rights, encourages base stereotypes, is of unproven efficacy, is unlikely to be more effective than voluntary testing, may be harmful, and will likely be a wasteful expenditure of public moneys.

Source:
The Medical Reform Group of Ontario
The Medical Reform Group of Ontario is a group of 200 practising physicians and medical students.

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Science misapplied: mandatory addiction screening
and treatment for welfare recipients in Ontario (PDF - 167K, 2 pages)
August 2001
The Ontario government plans to refer welfare recipients for a compulsory “professional, comprehensive assessment” and to demand that some recipients attend outpatient programs for mandatory treatment as a condition of receiving benefits. Both diagnosis and treatment will require the involvement of physicians and both could occur under duress and coercion. Physicians, guided by professional ethics, will need to determine whether their allegiance is to the state or to the individual patient. The Board of Trustees of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health has publicly opposed mandatory drug testing and treatment. Medical associations and professional regulatory bodies should follow its example and take a public stand against the Ontario government’s plan to force welfare recipients to undergo screening, assessment and treatment for addiction.
Source:
Canadian Medical Association

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Mandatory Drug Testing and Treatment of Welfare Recipients Position Statement
The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) does not support mandatory drug testing and treatment for people on welfare. Research has shown that drug testing has limited utility in confirming substance use problems and treatment needs. Such an approach would also serve to perpetuate the stigma associated with poverty and addiction and may lead to detrimental individual and social consequences. CAMH is also concerned about the ethical and legal implications of that infringement on the human rights of its patients and clients who are on welfare.
Source:
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

More information on this initiative - this link takes you to a Google Search Results page with several relevant resources.

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- Go to the Links to American Non-Governmental Social Research (M-Z) Links page:
http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/us3.htm

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