Drug Testing Welfare Recipients Is Illogical
Drug testing welfare recipients isn’t worth the cost, the post argues. In four of five states with comparable counts, under 1% of welfare applicants tested positive, and more did among those referred for or taking a drug test; Oklahoma’s rate was about 9%.
This post predates our current editorial process. Its sources and figures have not yet been re-verified. How we work
Archived: written in 2017 with the data available then. Figures have not been updated.
Corrected October 10, 2026. An earlier version of this post gave Oklahoma's rate of positive drug tests as 8.8 percent. The Snopes article it cites gives 8.9 percent: 297 of the 3,342 applicants the state screened from 2012 to 2014 tested positive. The post now says 8.9 percent.
Corrected October 15, 2026. An earlier version said that, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, about 2% of welfare recipients used drugs, compared with 9.4% of the general population. The SAMHSA page we cited gave neither figure and made no such comparison, and we found no source for 2%. The 9.4% figure is past-month illicit drug use among Americans 12 and older in 2013, from SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which the post now cites in place of SAMHSA's "Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs" page. A 2002 SAMHSA analysis of its 1999 and 2000 surveys found the reverse of the earlier version's claim: past-month illicit drug use was higher among people aged 12 to 64 in families receiving government assistance (9.6%) than in families receiving none (6.8%) and among all people that age (7.2%). The post now gives these figures. It also says that state drug-test results measure something different from these surveys, and it no longer sets a figure for welfare recipients beside the survey's 9.4% as a pair of drug-use rates. For welfare applicants it gives, from the counts ThinkProgress and Snopes both give, positive tests under 1% of applicants in four states and about 9% in Oklahoma. Counted against applicants referred for or taking a drug test, Snopes's figures run from 3.5% to 16.9%. The summary, which said welfare recipients use drugs at a lower rate than the general population, now gives these test results instead.
Drug testing is a practice that is difficult to justify whether it is for welfare or a new job. When it’s taxpayer funded, however, there needs to be proof that the results prove worth.
At least 15 states have already passed legislation regarding drug testing for public assistance3. It should be noted that federal law already prohibits those with felony drug convictions from receiving welfare benefits4.
The proposed reason is simple: To save money by kicking drug users off welfare.
The problem? All evidence suggests that drug testing has not accomplished the intended goal.
A national survey by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found that 9.4% of Americans 12 and older had used an illicit drug in the past month in 20135. An earlier SAMHSA analysis, published in 2002 from its 1999 and 2000 surveys, found past-month illicit drug use among 9.6% of people aged 12 to 64 in families receiving government assistance, such as Medicaid or food stamps, 6.8% in families receiving none, and 7.2% of all people that age9,10. State drug-testing programs measure something different: how many welfare applicants test positive. In the five states where both ThinkProgress and Snopes give applicant counts, the counts put positive tests under 1% of applicants in Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri and Utah, and about 9% in Oklahoma1,7. Those shares include applicants never tested. Counted against the applicants who were referred for or took a drug test, by Snopes's count, positive rates ran from 3.5% in Utah to 16.9% in Kansas7:
Positive tests as a share of all applicants: under 1% in Arizona, Mississippi, Missouri and Utah; about 9% in Oklahoma
Positive tests among applicants referred for or taking a drug test (Snopes): 3.5% to 16.9%
Below, in bold, are statistics for the states conducting their “cost-saving” programs, which provide data1,7. Non-bold states have not released data:
Alabama
Arkansas
Arizona
Spent: $499
Positive Drug tests: (0.002%)
Florida
Georgia
Kansas
Spent: $40,000
Positive Drug Tests: 11 (0.4%)
Michigan
Mississippi
Spent: $5,290
Positive Drug Tests: (0.05%)
Missouri
Spent: $336,297
Positive Drug Tests: 48 (0.1%)
North Carolina
Positive Drug Tests: 23 (0.3%)
Oklahoma
Spent: $385,872
Positive Drug Tests: 297 (8.9%)
Tennessee
Spent: $5,295
Positive Drug Tests: (0.23%)
Utah
Spent: $64,566
Positive Drug Tests: 29 (0.3%)
West Virginia
Wisconsin
States reported spending $850,909 on welfare drug testing in 2015, which resulted in 321 positive tests6. An estimated $1 million was also spent on the implementation of drug testing programs for temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), which resulted in 407 positive results6.
Unfortunately, it’s currently very difficult to identify exactly how much each state has saved due to a lack of reported data. Though a report from Tennessee suggests that testing expenses were double the estimated savings8.
Though the idea of kicking drug users from welfare seems righteous and moral, the fact remains that the very low rates at which positive drug tests occur suggest that drug testing is a wasteful procedure that only benefits the companies contracted to complete the screenings.
References
1 Covert. 2015. What 7 States Discovered After Spending More Than $1 Million Drug Testing Welfare Recipients.
2 Stone. 2015. The Sham of Drug Testing For Benefits: Walker, Scott and Political Pandering.
3 National Conference of State Legislatures. 2016. Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients and Public Assistance.
4 Jaeger. 2015. Here’s What Happened When Maine Drug Tested People on Welfare.
5 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2014. Results from the 2013 NSDUH: Summary of National Findings.
6 Covert. 2016. Drug Testing Welfare Recipients is a Popular New Policy that Costs States Millions. Here are the Results.
7 Snopes. 2015. Putting the Smack Down.
8 Agorist. 2015. Drug Testing Welfare Applicants Costs More Than Twice What It Saves.
9 Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. 2011. Drug Testing Welfare Recipients: Recent Proposals and Continuing Controversies.
10 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2002. Substance Use Among Persons in Families Receiving Government Assistance.