US experience in drug testing welfare recipients suggests it will prove costly and ineffective if it goes ahead in Australia, the Greens have warned.
The federal government announced its intention to trial drug testing of welfare recipients in the May budget, arguing that addressing an individual’s drug problem was crucial to them securing employment.
“The facts are that if you use drugs, you diminish your chances of working and increase your chances of dependency,” human services minister, Alan Tudge, said earlier this month.
The proposal met immediate criticism from welfare advocates and drug support workers, who said it was an overly simplistic attempt of dealing with addiction, stigmatised welfare recipients, and would prove ineffective unless further funding was given to already-stretched drug treatment services.
The Coalition has pointed to overseas examples of drug testing to help sell its own policy, saying the trials seeks to establish “whether it can work in Australia”.
In the US, at least 15 US states have passed legislation to drug test welfare recipients since Arizona first pursued such measures in 2009, according to the national conference of state legislatures.
A further 20 states had proposed drug testing legislation by March, the conference said.
In Arizona, only two welfare recipients were disqualified due to a positive drug test between 2011 and 2014, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Missouri recorded 69 positives between March 2013 and September 2014, Utah had 29 between August 2012 and July 2014, and Tennessee had 24 between July 2014 and December 2014.
Florida enacted a policy in 2011 that drug tested all welfare recipients. It lasted four months before being ruled unconstitutional following a court challenge by the American Civil Liberties Union.
About 108 out of 4,086 welfare recipients tested during that period returned positive results, according to the New York Times.
Greens senator Rachel Siewert said the US experience showed drug testing welfare recipients was not effective.
“Looking overseas, what is becoming clear is the drug testing policy is introduced or proposed for purely political reasons, as a way of saying to voters ‘we are taking action on drug use’, Australia deserves better than this, we need evidence-based policy,” Siewert said.
“Rather than reinforcing perceptions that people struggling with drug addiction should be vilified and treated with suspicion and contempt, they should be treated through the health system,” she said.
