Some important notes about drug testing for welfare. The biggest point is this first paragraph. One need read nothing more. The other two paragraphs are just additional things to consider when stating one's position on drug testing.Florida ran two sets of drug testing trials, one small as a proof of concept, and the other much larger in scope. In both cases, the cost of testing far exceeded the cost of the benefits denied to the less than 2% of people that failed. There was also no statistically significant change in the number of applicants, which suggests that it wasn't discouraging people who did drugs from applying. From this, one can state with certainty that it is economically ill advised to drug test welfare applicants.If someone fails a test for cannabis or for opiates, it may be the case that they're using the materials to make their lives easier. [WARNING, ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE AHEAD] I have some relatives who, for the sake of pain relief, opt for cannabis over opiates because (1)the pain relieving effect is greater, (2)the psychological impairment is less significant when compared to opiates, and (3)the rate of tolerance is higher for opiates. They're not on welfare, but I offer this information to indicate that doing drugs doesn't automatically make one incapable as a worker. It could be the case that someone is consuming drugs to make it possible to work, not that they're using their benefits on drugs (which, because of safeguards in the system, is unlikely). The implicit assumption that drugs == bad worker is a fallacy of false equivocation.A surprising number If something above is inaccurate, please let me know.