Sunday, September 28, 2014

No Social Assistance For Addicts

People should get drug tested before receiving social assistance or any kind of money from the government.



Now I can't count how many times I've heard this from people, most of which have never battled with addiction or been on social assistance. I'm seriously getting tired of hearing it and unless they have experienced it themselves they shouldn't be judging and telling people how the system should operate. I've avoided talking about this because I know how much of a fuss this topic can cause and I didn't really want to deal with all the negative comments but I've realized my readers are kind and compassionate enough to respect my opinion and not leave any negative comments. Although I know a lot of people are set in their way of thinking and are going to disagree with me, just let me explain why I think taking social assistance away from addicts is a terrible idea.

The obvious reason (well to me) would be crime going up because people who are addicted need money for their next fix and without that next fix they would go into severe withdrawals. I know theirs ways for them to get better but some are just not mentally there yet, for whatever reason. For example, the chances of stuff being stolen, more people dealing drugs, having more homeless people or having more sex workers on our streets would go up. Theirs also the fact that a lot of people who do drugs also buy necessities like rent and food with their money, like I did, and especially people with children. I should know I once was one of those kids. It would of been way worst for me as a child had my parents not received social assistance. Taking me away from my parents wouldnt of helped, I would of ended up rebelling even more and would of probably ran away. When I was on social assistance and addicted to drugs I still bought myself food and paid my rent. I wouldn't of survived otherwise and would of probably become somewhat suicidal. Social assistance helps people in soo many ways.

There's so many reason why someones drug test could come back positive. Besides the fact that it might just be an occasional or rare thing that the person does, what about someone who smokes weed for fibromyalgia pain because they haven't received the proper medical care and the doctor they've seen can't figure out whats wrong. There's just so many possibilities that we can't even imagine that denying people social assistance based on drug testing is unjust and discriminatory, not to mention the drug test itself is an invasion of privacy. Taking social assistance away wont solve the problem it will just make it worst. We have no right to judge people like that. We don't know what they're going through. I just wish people would keep that in mind instead of attacking people on social assistance.

If you can think of any other reasons why drug testing and social assistance is a bad idea please feel free to share in the comments. Thanks :)

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PS. Also wanted to mention that Ive been thinking of only posting every Sunday instead of every Wednesday and Sunday unless you guys tell me in the comments that you really enjoy 2 posts a week I'll start posting once a week. =) love all my readers, your opinions matter to me and I appreciate you all so much. Thanks


4 comments:

  1. Thanks, Id like your input on any other reasons you can think of that mandatory drug testing for receiving social assistance is a bad idea.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hey girl! finally able to comment! For one I hate how they class all those in need of receiving social assistance, as being drug addicts, there are many hardworking people that end up unemployed and in need of temporary help, they should not be drug tested just to receive a bit of help! Secondly, taking away social assistance from someone who has tested positive will only cause more bad than good, as you say crime will go up and that's a given, they have to survive somehow. Many with addictions so severe also have mental health issues and forcing them off social assistance will only perpetuate the homelessness problem as well, which is already severe. Addicts need help not punishment.I also grew up on social assistance, my mother is still on it. People need a hand up, not a slap on the hand! Many people would lose their children or would have to give them up if they were cut off, as they would be unable to care for them or the children would have to be dragged through life on the streets, which again is only perpetuating the problem and causing a vicious cycle to occur.
    Thanks for sharing this article Chelsea! Awesome as usual! Take care girl!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry for the late reply, been so preoccupied lately. I really do appreciate your comments and read them as soon as u post them even though I don't get to comment right away. I don't know what else to do to make people realize that taking away social assistance isn't the anwser but I guess everyones aloud their opinion, as long as they don't actually start taking away social assistance.

    ReplyDelete

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