Oklahoma should require welfare recipients to undergo drug screening

June 2, 2011

Governor Rick Scott of Florida signed a measure Tuesday requiring adults applying for welfare assistance to undergo drug screening.

This is a common-sense reform for the state-operated and -administered federal program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It better ensures that welfare benefits are a temporary, behavior-improving “hand up” rather than a perpetual “handout” that enables unproductive and even destructive behavior. OCPA has recommended that Oklahoma lawmakers enact this reform (see page 71 of our most recent Oklahoma Policy Blueprint), and we are hopeful they will consider it in 2012.