Drug Testing

According to one of my friends on Facebook, Kentucky just passed a law that to be on food stamps, Medicaid or cash assistance for yourself or your children, you need to pass a drug test to receive the help. He wanted people who agreed to re-post this.

Well, I don’t agree.  What my initial reply was:

”So if they don’t pass the drug test, do we give them free rehab or just tell them tough luck? And is that really the Christian thing to do? Reject them because they have a weakness and an illness? Is that what Jesus would do?”

People have disagreed with me over this. They feel like we shouldn’t help people if they are going to use our help to buy drugs, cigarettes or alcohol.  My thought on that is, if they need it, oh well. I grew up with parents who smoked and I know that the worse time for them to try to quit smoking was when they were stressed.  And being broke, unemployed and having to ask for government assistance is very stressful and not the time to tell people they need to give up a bad habit.

Rather we should give them the assistance they need to not only keep their children fed, safe and warm but also maybe to slowly help them to give up their addictions.  Give them help in overcoming all their problems instead of denying them help for some of their problems just because their other problems (the addictions) offend you.

Another argument that was posted was that, as Christians we chose to minister and aid the weak but that food stamps and Medicaid is money taken from us by the government and, in some cases, supports criminal behavior. Again, I say, oh well.  The churches in this country cannot begin to support all the poor in this country.  They just don’t have the resources to do that.  So we need the government to provide assistance.

If people know history at all, they would know that during The Great Depression, the reason so many men were roaming the rails and eating at soup kitchens is because the welfare system was set up in such a way that if the husband was at home, the wife and children couldn’t receive help. Luckily that was changed.  Now we can keep families intact so that they can work together to try to get off of government assistance and take care of themselves. It isn’t the most perfect system but it is better than when we had no system at all.

Speaking of which, look at countries in Africa, Southeast Asia or any other areas of the world that are considered the third world. There isn’t any government assistance in place.  If people are poor, they don’t get any help at all. If children are orphaned, that is it for them.  Tough luck. Do we really want that for our children? Do we really want to neglect our poor that way?

I agree that people do take advantage of the system. But we shouldn’t let a small percentage of people hurt the large majority. Why should we tell people who are facing the humiliation and embarrassment of having to ask for government assistance that they can have help, but they have to pee in a cup first? Do you also want them to get down on their knees and beg? How much pain and suffering do you want people to endure before we give them some help?

We are supposed to look out for each other.  The first church did just that.  Those who had gave to those who had not. No strings attach.  No begging. No peeing in cups.  Just a helping hand because as Christians that is what Christ wants us to do.