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Department will not implement drug testing

JEFFERSON CITY - Missouri's welfare agency says it is not sure it wants to test welfare recipients for drugs, as the Senate proposes in its version of welfare reform.

Under the bill approved by the Senate, the Social Services Department would be allowed to conduct random drug tests of welfare recipients. If the person tests positive, the department could revoke or reduce welfare benefits for up to one year.

However, Tom Jones, Family Services Division deputy director, said his department is uncertain that it would use the new authority.

"I think it would be difficult to implement," Jones said. "We are concerned about the costs that might be involved. Obviously, if the legislature tells us to do it, then we will."

Jones said the department did not request that the measure be put in the bill and it is just beginning to explore how drug testing might be implemented.

"I really don't believe this is something we've thought about," he said. "It's not something we necessarily wanted to have."

The sponsor of the amendment, Sen. John Russell, R-Lebanon, said he is disappointed, but not surprised, by the department's reaction.

"I think it is a typical response from an agency that doesn't want to something," he said. "I think the language was written as appropriately as we could so that they could deal with the issue."

The language in the bill was the second amendment offered by Russell. The first, which was defeated on a 17-17 vote, would have automatically terminated benefits for three years to anyone testing positive for drugs.

"I think we gave them a wide range on how to implement it," Russell said. "There is flexibility in sanctioning -- they could do almost anything."

Jones said the department is talking to other states about the cost of this kind of measure.

"There would have to be an overall policy put into effect," he said. "We would have to identify how we would select people, how the staff would handle it, and if we could handle the population."

Jones said the department realizes some welfare recipients may be using food stamps to buy drugs. However, he added, the new Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card will solve that problem.

The EBT card would be used like an ATM card so that food stamp recipients could subtract from their balance right at the grocery store. It is currently being tested on an experimental basis in parts of the state.

Critics of drug testing welfare recipients said the idea punishes children and criminalizes welfare.

"These people do not need to be treated like criminals -- they need help," said Peter DeSimone, executive director of the Missouri Association for Social Welfare. "The welfare office is not a police substation."

Russell said the measure is not designed to take food away from children.

"It's up to the department to decide who to test," he said. "The money for the children can be placed with someone else."

Russell said he will come back to this issue in the future is the department fails to adequately implement the measure.

"I predict we will see a big improvement in areas where this is carried out," he said. "It's the taxpayers who are being ripped off by welfare recipients who use drugs."